Nadal, Zverev Begin Campaigns Wednesday In Cincinnati

View FedEx ATP Head2Head matchups for Day 4 of the Western & Southern Open and vote for who you think will win!
Nadal vs. Gasquet | Dimitrov vs. Lopez | Zverev vs. Tiafoe

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Top seed and 2013 champion Rafael Nadal, No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev and No. 7 seed Grigor Dimitrov are in second-round action on Wednesday at the Western & Southern Open. In addition, there are three other seeds trying to reach the third round: No. 11 Pablo Carreno Busta, No. 15 Sam Querrey and No. 16 Gilles Muller.

Nadal brings a 14-0 head-to-head record against Richard Gasquet in the final match on Center Court. Nadal, who has a 20-10 record in Cincinnati, will return to No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings next Monday for the first time since July 6, 2014. This will be the fourth different time that the 31-year-old Spaniard has ranked No. 1 in his career. Nadal will hold the record for the longest gap between debut at No. 1 and most recent date at No. 1. 

FIRST AND LAST DAY AS NO. 1

Player              Debut at No. 1             Most Recent Date at No. 1       Time in Between
Rafael Nadal   Aug. 18, 2008              Aug. 21, 2017                          9 years, 3 days
Jimmy Connors July 29, 1974               July 3, 1983                             8 years, 339 days
Roger Federer  Feb. 2, 2004                Nov. 4, 2012                            8 years, 276 days
Andre Agassi   April 10, 1995              Sept. 7, 2003                           8 years, 150 days
Pete Sampras  April 12, 1993              Nov. 19, 2000                          7 years, 221 days

Also on Center Court, #NextGenATP stars Zverev and Frances Tiafoe meet for the third time (Zverev leads 2-0). Zverev, who became the first player to qualify for the ATP Next Gen Finals, is on a 10-match winning streak after capturing his second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title of the season in Montreal on Sunday (d. Federer). The 20-year-old German has won a personal-best five titles in 2017 and is co-leader on the ATP World Tour (w/Federer). Tiafoe, who is No. 9 in the Emirates ATP Race to Milan, is looking for the biggest win of his career, having lost his only other match against a Top 10 player to Federer in Miami.

Play begins on Center Court with Dimitrov and Feliciano Lopez squaring off for the fifth time (tied 2-2). Two of their previous meetings were decided in a third-set tiebreak, including in this same round at the 2016 Western & Southern Open. The Bulgarian prevailed in that match 57 63 76. Lopez won the last meeting in the semi-finals at London/Queen’s Club in June. Dimitrov advanced to the semi-finals here last year and Lopez is making his 15^th consecutive appearance in Cincinnati (QF in 2015).

WEDNESDAY BY THE NUMBERS

26 singles players
6 seeds
5 Americans
4 lucky losers
3 qualifiers
2 wild cards
1 former and future World No. 1