Stanislas Wawrinka had to dig deep to beat Borna Coric at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Wednesday and conceded his thoughts had been far from tennis over the past few days.
French Open champion Wawrinka said he had yet to receive an apology from Nick Kyrgios for the Australian's incendiary comment during their match last week.
Kyrgios, 20, drew the ire of the tennis world in Montreal after he insulted Wawrinka at the Rogers Cup, saying that another Australian player, Thanasi Kokkinakis, had slept with Wawrinka's girlfriend.
Though Kyrgios later apologised via Twitter for his comments, he was slapped with two separate fines by the ATP who also raised the possibility the Australian could be suspended.
Wawrinka did not hear the comment at the time, only learning later that it had been audible on television. He admitted after his victory on Wednesday that the past week had been difficult.
"For the past few days for sure my head was not really into the tennis," Wawrinka told Sky Sports television after his 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-3 win over Croatian teen Coric.
"What happened people don't see exactly what the consequences are for everybody so I'm trying to put away.
"Today I'm happy with the way I fight. I was playing really bad tennis but most important is the win."
Wawrinka was then asked if he was happy with the way that Kyrgios, who lost his opening match in Cincinnati, had apologised for the incident.
"He didn't apologise so no, but I prefer not to talk about him, thank you," said Wawrinka.
Wawrinka, playing his first match since the incident, started slowly against Coric and the Croatian claimed the opening set.
The 18-year-old then took Wawrinka to a tie-break in the second but his first double fault of the match gave his opponent three set points and the Swiss seized the opening to level the match.
Wawrinka then dominated the third set and clinched victory in two hours and 17 minutes.
"For sure he's playing amazing tennis," said Wawrinka, who will face another Croat, Ivo Karlovic, in the next round.
"He's really young. It's just the beginning of his career. He's going to be a great player."
World No 1 Novak Djokovic cruised through his opening match against Benoit Paire, beating the Frenchman 7-5, 6-2 to set up a third-round clash with Belgian 13th seed David Goffin.
In other matches, 12th-seed Richard Gasquet beat Kokkinakis 7-6(5), 6-2 while South Africa's Kevin Anderson beat American Jack Sock 6-3, 7-6(6).
World No 2 Briton Andy Murray beat American Mardy 6-4, 7-6 in another tough encounter.
After taking the first set 6-4, Murray let frustration creep into his game and he smashed his racquet after being broken in the 11th game of the second set, which gave the American the chance to serve out to even the match.
Murray broke right back, however, then dominated the tiebreak to close the match out after midnight.
"I forgot how tricky Mardy was to play against," Murray said after improving his career record to 5-4 against Fish, who is set to retire after the US Open.
"He takes the ball incredibly early and the ball comes off his racquet so quick sometimes. I found it very tough ... I didn't feel that confident striking the ball, which is quite different to last week."
In a late-night tie, former champion Rafael Nadal beat Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the 3rd round.
The Spaniard showed some positive signs of returning to form but still had to stave off nine break points.
"I am working very hard to find my best game again," said Nadal, who has been hampered by a string of injuries over the past couple of years.
In her final tune-up tournament before the US Open, Serena Williams put herself back on the winning track with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in her opening match at the Western & Southern Open on Wednesday.
Williams prevailed in 90 minutes and showed none of the rare struggles that dogged her during last week's semi-final loss to Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic in Toronto.
The defending Cincinnati champion, who will aim for a rare sweep of the four grand slam events at the August 31-September 13 US Open, broke Pironkova's serve once in each set and then sealed the win in style with her 15th ace of the match.
"There wasn't anything really tactical in particular for me today, I always just try to play my game and be consistent and stay focussed,” Williams, who improved to 44-2 in 2015, said in a courtside interview.
The American world number one will meet Italian Karin Knapp in the third round. Knapp beat Russian Daria Gavrilova 6-4, 6-1.
Williams is skipping next week's Connecticut Open in order to prepare for the US Open, where she will look to earn her fifth consecutive grand slam singles title and fourth of 2015.
"There's definitely a lot of pressure ... I would like to win the Open, probably more than anyone else," said Williams.
"Whether I do or not, I'm going to try win it this year or next year and just keep going for that. So, it's not the end of the world."
In other women's action Romanian third seed Simona Halep beat Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 while Czech seventh seed Lucie Safarova advanced with a 6-4, 7-5 win over American wild card Coco Vandeweghe.
In later matches, Belarusian Victoria Azarenka beat former World No 1 Caroline Wozniacki 6-0, 6-4, and record her fourth win against the Dane this year.
Canadian Eugenie Bouchard beat Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) to earn just her third win in her last 10 matches.
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