Anderson passes French test in Cincinnati

Cape Town - South African tennis star Kevin Anderson reached the third round of the Cincinnati Masters with a straight sets victory over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy on Wednesday.

The sixth-seeded Anderson won 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 to set up a duel with 11th seeded Belgian David Goffin.

Goffin defeated Frenchman Benoit Paire 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.

Goffin and Anderson have never before faced each other on the ATP World Tour but did once play in an ATP Challenger event in Todi, Italy way back in 2009.

The Belgian won that match 7-5, 6-3 on outdoor clay.

Anderson will be eager to progress further in Cincinnati, especially after his disappointment last weekend at the Toronto Masters where he squandered a match point in a semi-final loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece.

Results from the ATP and WTA Cincinnati Masters tournament on Wednesday (x denotes seeding):

Men

Second round

Milos Raonic (CAN) bt Malek Jaziri (TUN) 6-3, 7-5

Novak Djokovic (SRB x10) bt Adrian Mannarino (FRA) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1

Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x5) bt Mischa Zverev (GER) 7-6 (7/5), 7-5

Robin Haase (NED) bt Alexander Zverev (GER x3) 5-7, 6-4, 7-5

Pablo Carreno-Busta (ESP x13) bt Bradley Klahn (USA) 6-4, 6-4

Karen Khachanov (RUS) bt Sam Querrey (USA) 7-5, 6-4

Marin Cilic (CRO x7) bt Marius Copil (ROU) 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-4

Kevin Anderson (RSA x6) bt Jeremy Chardy (FRA) 7-6 (8/6), 6-2

David Goffin (BEL x11) bt Benoit Paire (FRA) 5-7, 6-4, 6-2

Nick Kyrgios (AUS x15) bt Borna Coric (CRO) 7-6 (7/1), 0-6, 6-3

Marton Fucsovics (HUN) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 7-5

Stan Wawrinka (SUI) bt Kei Nishikori (JPN) 6-4, 6-4

Women

Second round

Ashleigh Barty (AUS x16) bt Kaia Kanepi (EST) 7-5, 6-3

Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) bt Alize Cornet (FRA) 6-2, 6-0

Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) bt Garbine Muguruza (ESP x7) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4

Angelique Kerber (GER x4) bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 4-6, 7-5, 6-4

Madison Keys (USA x13) bt Camila Giorgi (ITA) 6-2, 6-2

Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) bt Karolina Plyskova (CZE x9) 2-6, 6-3, 7-5

Elise Mertens (BEL x15) bt Rebecca Peterson (SWE) 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/1)

Sloane Stephens (USA x3) bt Tatjana Maria (GER) 6-3, 6-2

Anett Kontaveit (EST) bt Maria Sakkari (GRE) 6-1, 6-3

Kiki Bertens (NED) bt Caroline Wozniacki (DEN x2) 6-4, retired