Nakashima pounds Fritz, Bejlek beats Keys in Cincinnati upsets

Frances Tiafoe and Brandon Nakashima set up one all-American men’s semifinal, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula also win.Brandon Nakashima continued his red-hot pace, knocking out sixth-seeded Taylor Fritz 7-6 (11/9), 4-6, 6-3 to reach the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters semifinals.Unseeded Czech Sara Bejlek also advanced late Friday, backing up her stunning victory over world number one Aryna Sabalenka with a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) quarterfinal win over Madison Keys.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4What are the key talking points before Man Utd’s new season? What to knowlist 2 of 4La Liga: The key talking points for Real Madrid before the 2026-27 seasonlist 3 of 4New boss Iraola aims to reignite Liverpool’s title push as season startslist 4 of 4Premier League form guide: Ranking the title contenders for 2026-27 seasonend of listBejlek, 20, booked a semifinal showdown with fourth-seeded American Coco Gauff, who powered to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over 10th-seeded Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk.Nakashima lined up an all-American men’s semi against Frances Tiafoe, who out-lasted Italian Lorenzo Musetti 7-6 (7/2) 7-5.Nakashima began his post-Wimbledon hard court run with a Washington semifinal – which he lost to Fritz – a run to the final in the Montreal Masters and now his best showing at Cincinnati, all with the US Open start barely more than a week away.Nakashima withstood 22 aces from Fritz – who also bashed 31 unforced errors.Nakashima trailed by a break in the third set but broke back to knot it at 3-3 and broke again for a 5-3 lead, out-hitting the powerful Fritz and converting his first match point with a forehand winner.“I’ve gotten a lot of confidence over the summer,” Nakashima said. “In the final set I trusted my game, I’m proud with how I ended the match.”Tiafoe needed four match points to get past Musetti in a match played at a slow but intense pace.“He’s a hell of a player; he makes you beat him – and that’s what I did,” said Tiafoe, who was broken the first time he served for the match but won the next two games. “Each match is its own story. I just go out and compete as hard as I can.”