Thanasi Kokkinakis will not be advancing, after the South Australian fell to Poland’s world No.20 Hubert Hurkacz 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 6-7 (1-7) in a three hour, eight minute epic.
Kokkinakis saved all eight of the break points he faced but could not live with a barrage of 13 aces from his big-serving opponent, who moves on to face defending champion Borna Coric of Croatia.
Coric battled past American Sebastian Korda 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 on Tuesday, wrapping up a match that began on Monday but was suspended due to bad weather.
Alexei Popyrin has kicked off a busy day for Australians at the ATP Tour’s Cincinnati Open with a 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-4 defeat of Germany’s Daniel Altmaier.
Both players were in the draw as lucky losers and were determined to make the most of their good fortune, slugging it out for two hours and 43 minutes.
The key game in the final set came at 3-3 when Popyrin broke his opponent and then held twice to win.
He will meet Chile’s Nicolas Jarry in the round of 32, who at 1.98 metres is even taller than the 1.96m Popyrin.
The 24-year-old Popyrin will be joined in the next round by fellow Sydneysider Max Purcell, who beat South Africa’s Lloyd Harris 6-4 6-4.
Purcell, who beat Popyrin in qualifying before the latter’s lucky-loser reprieve, will next face Norway’s world No.5 Casper Ruud.
Alex de Minaur will face world No.44 J.J. Wolf, from the USA, before qualifier Jordan Thompson headlines Tuesday’s action with a clash against world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz.
Taylor Fritz survived an epic first-set tie-break to beat Czech Jiri Lehecka 7-6 (16-14) 6-2.
Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti beat Britain’s Dan Evans 6-4 6-3, while Gael Monfils dropped the first set before overcoming 13th seed Cameron Norrie 3-6 6-4 6-3.
Germany’s Alexander Zverev eased into the round of 32 with a 6-2 6-2 win over Grigor Dimitrov.