No. 18 seed Tommy Paul saved a match point and rallied from a third-set deficit Wednesday, Aug. 19, to knock top-seeded Alexander Zverev out of the Cincinnati Open 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.

The upset, which lasted approximately two hours and 50 minutes including a 90-minute rain delay, sends the 29-year-old American into his first Cincinnati Open quarterfinal and leaves the men's draw without its top two seeds heading into Thursday's matches.

Paul became the first American man to beat a top-three player in Cincinnati since John Isner defeated top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the 2013 quarterfinals, according to Tennis Majors.

Zverev, the world No. 3 and 2021 Cincinnati champion, controlled the first set and appeared poised to close out the match in the second-set tiebreak, where he held match point at 6-5. Paul fought it off and took the breaker 8-6, then carried that momentum into the decider.

In the third set, Zverev broke Paul's serve to take a 4-2 lead. Paul broke back immediately, then broke Zverev again to grab a 5-4 lead and served out the match.

"I played a really ugly game there at 3-2 to get broke in the third," Paul said after the match. "But it was nice to get right back, and it's not always easy to, after playing an ugly game like that, lock back in."

Paul credited the pro-American crowd at the Lindner Family Tennis Center for keeping him in the fight. The win was his 36th of the 2026 season and his third top-10 victory of the year, having also beaten Taylor Fritz at Delray Beach and Alex de Minaur in Hamburg.

The upset capped a brutal Wednesday for top seeds in Mason. Women's No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka also fell, losing to unseeded Czech Sara Bejlek 7-6 (7), 6-4, while men's No. 2 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime was eliminated by American Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4, according to Sky Sports.

With world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz both absent from the draw, Zverev had entered the tournament as the clear favorite to claim the Rookwood Cup. Instead, the field is wide open.

Paul faces No. 7 seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy in the quarterfinals Thursday, Aug. 20. The singles finals are scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 23, at 2 p.m. at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.