Nick Kyrgios lost against Taylor Fritz at WTA Cincinnati Masters

• Nick Kyrgios loses 6-3, 6-2 to Taylor Fritz at the ATP and WTA Cincinnati Masters.
• Australian had won his last five matches against Americans and was 15-2 since Wimbledon.
• Andy Murray loses to Cameron Norrie in three sets at the Cincinnati Masters.

Nick Kyrgios got lost when objections about the advertising lights on the court. The Wimbledon runner-up lost to American Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday at the ATP and WTA Cincinnati Masters.

From the start, the Australian was in a bad mood. He complained that the flashing LED lights on an advertising board were distracting and asked for a fix.

After a great summer in which he won the Washington title this month, Kyrgios, who is ranked 28th in the world, couldn’t find his best game and lost in 50 minutes to 11th-seeded Fritz.

The Australian had won his last five matches against Americans and was 15-2 since his shocking loss to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final.

But after he said he was counting down the days until the US Open was over and he could go home, Kyrgios didn’t seem very interested in his job on the court.

Fritz hit his 12th ace to set up match point, and he won when Kyrgios’s weak forehand hit the top of the net.

“It feels great the way my game is coming together,” Fritz said. “This is the kind of match I need to build confidence.

“A lot of things were clicking today, I felt great.”

Tenth seed for women Emma Raducanu beat a Grand Slam champion for the second time in less than 24 hours when she beat Victoria Azarenka 6-0, 6-2.

The 16-year-old US Open winner won the first 10 games before her opponent, a veteran who had won two titles at Cincinnati and two at the Australian Open, finally won a game.

But the young Briton, who beat Serena Williams the night before with another love set, was having none of it.

Raducanu calmly got to 5-1 and got over her nerves two games later by saving two break points and serving it out on her second match point when Azarenka hit a return long after 63 minutes.

Azaranka, who won the US Open in 2013 and 2020, hasn’t had a good run at the US Open tune-up. She lost badly in the third round last year to Ashleigh Barty, who went on to win the title.

“I played a great match for sure,” Raducanu said. “To play Vika like that I had to stay focused.

“In the second set I could feel the important moments. I’m pleased with how I dug in and served it out.”

On the men’s side, Andy Murray lost to Cameron Norrie in the second round in three sets (3-6, 6-3, and 6-4). After the match, the trainer had to check on him on the court.

Murray, who has won twice in Cincinnati, had to get a massage on his right thigh before he could leave the court after fighting for almost two and a half hours. This was the last major match before the US Open, which starts on August 29.

“At times I felt like I played really well and then at times didn’t. My consistency maybe was not where I’d want it,” Murray said.

“But there was some positive tennis in there at times. I definitely had enough opportunities to win that match.”

Murray is worried about cramps because he has had them at other events in the past few weeks. He is 35 years old and from Scotland.

“It’s a big concern for me. It’s something I need to address and find a solution for,” Murray said. “You need to try and understand what’s going on there.”

The 11th-ranked player in the world, Norrie, broke the slow-moving match’s deadlock with a service break in the second-to-last game and won on his first match point.

“I just played the bigger points a bit better,” Norrie said. “It came down to one or two points.”

Norrie had 39 winners, while Murray only had 37. Murray, who has won three Grand Slams, only broke serve twice out of 11 chances and made almost 40 mistakes.

“I was not physical enough at the start of the match,” Norrie said. “I was not executing the way I liked. I was pleased to get through without playing my best.”

In another match in the second round, fifth-seeded Casper Ruud was shocked by the American Ben Shelton, who beat him 6-3, 6-3.

In the women’s draw, Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, who was the fifth seed, beat Cincinnati’s own Caty McNally 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7).

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