MASON, Ohio – Donna Vekic lost her first match since winning Olympic silver, falling 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-2 to Ashlyn Kruger on Tuesday at the Cincinnati Open.
Kruger won her qualifying match against Naomi Osaka. The American then made her first appearance in the main draw in Cincinnati by beating Croatia’s 16th seed Vekic, who lost to Jung Chin-won in the women’s gold medal match in Paris.
On the men’s side, Brandon Nakashima upset No. 11 seed Taylor Fritz 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4) and No. 12 seed Ben Shelton narrowly beat Reilly Opelka 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3) in another All-American matchup.
Shelton, Nakashima and Krueger were among five Americans who advanced to the hard-court tuning-up for the U.S. Open on Tuesday. Alex Michelsen and Frances Tiafoe also advanced.
The only other seeded competitor to advance from the men’s event was No. 14 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, who won bronze in Paris, beating Nicolas Jarry of Chile 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4).
Ninth-seeded Daria Kasatkina and 15th-seeded Marta Kostyuk won the women’s events.
The two No. 1 seeds play their opening matches on Wednesday, with Italy’s Jannik Sinner taking on Michelsen in the afternoon and Iga Swiatek taking on Varvara Gracheva in the evening.
