MASON (Ohio): Rafael Nadal and Karolina Pliskova, the top seeds in the Western & Southern Open, advanced with straight-set wins Wednesday, while the rest of their brackets suffered more top losses.

Nadal sat out an hour-long rain delay and beat Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday night, finishing it off with two of his eight aces.

Next for Nadal, who had a first-round bye, is a third-round matchup with 24th-ranked countryman Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who eliminated 16th seed Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

Pliskova needed only 67 minutes to get a 6-2, 6-3 win over Natalia Vikhlyantseva, a solid showing as the defending champion. Next up for the 25-year-old Czech is a third-round match against Italian Camila Giorgi, who beat Australian Daria Gavrilova 7-6 (7-1), 5-7, 6-3.

The rest of the hot, muggy day was highlighted by upsets.

Number three Angelique Kerber and ninth-seeded Venus Williams were knocked out in three-setters, disrupting their US Open preparations.

Kerber lost 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (13-11) to Russian Ekaterina Makarova, while Venus was upset 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 by Australian qualifier Ashleigh Barty in second-round matches.

Barty will face former world number one Caroline Wozniacki, a 6-2, 6-4 winner against Russia’s Elena Vesnina, in the last 16.

Ukraine’s fourth-ranked Elina Svitolina ousted compatriot Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 6-4 and American 16th seed Madison Keys beat Russian Daria Kasatkina 6-2 6-1 to reach the last 16, where she will face Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza of Spain.

American Sloane Stephens defeated 14th seed Petra Kvitova, who was bothered by pain in her right thigh, to reach the third round with a 6-2, 6-3 win. Up next for Stephens will be the on-form Makarova.

The men’s bracket lost one of the hottest player of late.

Wild-card Frances Tiafoe broke through against world number seven Alexander Zverev, who was coming off his second ATP Masters title in Montreal.

The 19-year-old American hadn’t taken a set in his two career matches against Zverev, but rallied for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory that ended Zverev’s streak of 10 straight match wins and next faces US 14th seed John Isner.

The upsets further depleted both brackets, which were already thinned by injuries to top players. The men’s bracket is without Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and defending champion Marin Cilic because of injuries. The women’s bracket is missing Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova.

Earlier, Bulgarian seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov beat Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to set up a last-16 clash with Juan Martin del Potro.

Del Potro advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 win over American qualifier Mitchell Krueger, winning each set on a late break.

Australian Nick Kyrgios beat Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) to reach the third round, where he will face unseeded Croatian Ivo Karlovic.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2017