There was a notable upset on Saturday in the second round of the 2026 Cincinnati Open. Thiago Agustin Tirante of Argentina, the 50th ranked player in the world, upset world number three Novak Djokovic of Serbia, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
This was Djokovic’s first match since his semifinal match at Wimbledon against world number one Jannik Sinner of Italy. A major reason for Tirante’s success came down to the serve. Tirante had 13 aces and five double faults and Djokovic had five aces and seven double faults.
Now there are questions if there is rust at this time in Djokovic’s game, and if the 24-time grand slam champion has enough time to figure things out before the United States Open which commences at the end of the month. Two factors in Djokovic’s favour is the fact he can draw on his five set experience at majors and the fact he has won the United States Open four times. The draw back is Father Time. At 39 years old, is age creeping into Djokovic’s game and will we see another lackadaisical performance from him in the first week at Flushing Meadows?
Djokovic is the fourth top 10 player Tirante has beaten in his career. He also beat Andrey Rublev of Russia 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 in the second round of the 2024 Swedish Open, Ben Shelton of the United States, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the 2026 United States Clay Court Championship in Houston, and Taylor Fritz of the United States, 7-5, 6-3, in the second round of the 2026 National Bank Open in Montreal.
What we are seeing in Cincinnati is the rising development of Tirante. The Argentinian was able to build on his win over Djokovic with a 7-6, 7-6 third round win over Martin Landaluce of Spain on Monday. Tirante is the only unseeded player left in the top half of the men’s draw.
There are three Australian men left. They are qualifier Christopher O’Connell of Sydney, the fifth seed Alex de Minaur of Sydney, and Adam Walton of Home Hill. O’Connell is in the fourth round because of a mid-match second round retirement by Casper Ruud and a third round withdrawal by Joao Fonseca.
