The Cincinnati Open features seven of the top 10 players of the WTA Ranking.
Top seed Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina, this year’s Roland Garros and Wimbledon finalist Jasmine Paolini and Olympic champion Zhen Qinwen will be in action after skipping the Canadian Open in Toronto. They will be joined by defending champion and 2023 US Open winner Coco Gauff, last year’s Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka and Jelena Ostapenko.
In the projected semifinals Sabalenka has been drawn in the top half of the draw with Swiatek, while Rybakina landed in the bottom half with Gauff.
Swiatek has been drawn in the top half and will start her campaign in the second round against Ajla Tomljanovic or a qualifier. Swiatek won the Olympic bronze medal in Paris and lost to Coco Gauff in the Cincinnati semifinal in 2023.
Swiatek, who received a first-round bye, could face either Marta Kostyuk or Linda Noskova in the second round. The Polish player could meet Olympic doubles champion Jasmine Paolini, Mirra Andreeva or Emma Navarro in a potential quarter final clash. Navarro, who reached her first WTA 1000 semifinal in Toronto, will face Roland Garros semifinalist Mirra Andreeva in the first round.
Paolini lost to Coco Gauff in the quarter final in Cincinnati in 2023 after starting from the qualifying round. Paolini will start her campaign in Cincinnati in the second round against either Clara Burel or Anastasia Potapova. The Italian player could face either Navarro or Andreeva.
The other side of the top half features Aryna Sabalenka, Jelena Ostapenko and Victoria Azarenka.
Sabalenka could face two-time Cincinnati champion Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the second round and Victoria Azarenka in the third round. Sabalenka leads 5-1 in her previous head-to-head matches against Azarenka and won their most recent match 6-4 6-4 in Washington.
Sabalenka is projected to face a potential semifinal against Swiatek. Sabalenka recently reached the quarter finals at the Canadian Open in Toronto.
Ostapenko could start her campaign against Bianca Andreescu.
The bottom half of the draw features 2023 Cincinnati champion Coco Gauff, who will start against either Yulia Putintseva or a qualifier. Gauff lost to Diana Schnaider in the Round of 16in Toronto.
Gauff has been drawn in the same half with Anna Kalinskaya, Peyton Stearns and Paula Badosa.
Gauff could face Zheng, who will play against Mubadala Citi Open finalist Marie Bouzhova in her first match as the Paris Olympic champion. Zheng beat Swiatek in the semifinals before beating Donna Vekic in the final at the Olympic Games in Paris.
Ons Jabeur and Caroline Wozniaki are other potential opponents for Gauff.
Jabeur will start her campaign against 2021 Roland Garros finalist Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova in Zheng’s section.
Wild card Caroline Wozniacki will take on Anhelina Kalinina for the third time this year. Kalinina won both their previous matches. The Ukrainian player saved a match point in a three-set match against her Danish rival in Miami and won a straight-set match in Charleston.
The other side of the bottom half also features Jessica Pegula, Elena Rybakina, Donna Vekic and Daria Kasatkina.
Pegula reached her second consecutive final in Toronto.
Pegula is projected to face a potential semifinal again her former doubles partner Coco Gauff, who is the defending champion in Cincinnati.
Gauff and Pegula have played each other five times. Pegula leads 4-1 in her previous head-to-head matches against Gauff.
Gauff could face Anna Kalinskaya in the fourth round.
Rybakina, Wimbledon champion in 2021, will take on either 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez or China’s Zhang Shuai in her first match since Wimbledon. Rybakina lost to eventual champion Barbora Krejcikova at Wimbledon last July and withdrew from the Olympic Games and Toronto due to bronchitis.
Donna Vekic will face Beatriz Haddad Maia in the first round.
