In the decider which went to another tiebreak, Struff was faster off the blocks and never relinquished an early lead en route to a win which books a third-round clash against Daniil Medvedev.
Meanwhile, in an all-Japanese clash, Yoshihito Nishioka prevailed over his more illustrious compatriot and sixth seed Kei Nishikori in straight sets in the pair’s first meeting on the tour.
There was a third seeded casualty on the day when Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, the 2006 junior US Open runner-up, took out Alexander Zverev in three sets as the erring German bled 20 double faults in the match.
In other matches, Russian qualifier Andrey Rublev got the better of Stan Wawrinka to prevent an all-Swiss third-round match-up in Cincinnati. Diego Schwartzman blitzed past Marin Cilic’s conqueror Radu Albot for the loss of just six games and Frenchman Lucas Pouille ended the campaign of young Canadian Denis Shapovalov.
Elsewhere, Daniil Medvedev continued his strong recent run on hard courts by beating Benoit Paire, while Roberto Bautista Agut prevailed over young American Frances Tiafoe in three sets.
David Goffin overcame Argentinian Guido Pella in straight sets and Adrian Mannarino dropped just four games against Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin to move into the third round.
In the last match of the night session, Coupe Rogers semifinalist Karen Khachanov recovered from the loss of the first set to beat Washinton DC champion Nick Kyrgios 6-7(3) 7-6(4) 6-2 and set up a mouthwatering clash with Lucas Pouille.
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