Novak Djokovic and Grigor Dimitrov will have to return on Friday to finish their third-round match at the Western & Southern Open after heavy rain forced them off court in the deciding set.

Djokovic had complained of feeling unwell in Cincinnati earlier in the week and things began poorly on Thursday as he lost the first 6-2 to the Bulgarian.

However the Serbian showed all his fighting qualities and skill to hit back and level affairs, taking the second set 6-3 to set up a decider.

He broke early on to lead 2-1 before the heavens opened and is a 1.08 favourite to complete the job and book a quarter-final clash with Milos Raonic.

Dimitrov will have other ideas and can be backed at 6.00 to oust the Wimbledon champion but the momentum is now with Djokovic.

Canada’s Raonic was too good for exciting compatriot Denis Shapovalov, who has been tipped to be a star of the sport in the coming years, with the 2016 Wimbledon finalist winning 7-6 6-4.

In a battle of the big-servers, Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro squares off with controversial Australian Nick Kyrgios for a place in the last eight in a match that will probably not see too many breaks of serve.

Del Potro is favourite at 1.44 while Kyrgios is on offer at 2.60 to play either South Africa’s Wimbledon finalist Kevin Anderson or David Goffin of Belgium in the quarters.

Roger Federer’s match against Leonardo Mayer was postponed until Friday as well and the Swiss legend is priced at 1.08 to progress while Mayer is trading at 6.00.