The 97th edition of the WTA Cincinnati Open will unfold from August 7-18 at the Lindner Family Tennis Centre in Mason, Ohio. This year marks a shift to a 12-day format, expanding the singles main draw to 96 players, including 72 direct entrants, 16 qualifiers, and eight wildcards.

Reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka, currently world No. 1, returns to compete for the first time since her Wimbledon semi-final defeat, having skipped the Canadian Open. Sabalenka will be one of three former Cincinnati champions in the field alongside Coco Gauff (2023) and Madison Keys (2019).

However, the tournament will witness notable absences among the top 10 players. Injuries have forced Mirra Andreeva, Qinwen Zheng, and Paula Badosa to withdraw. Additional withdrawals include Lois Boisson, Ons Jabeur, Alex Eala, and Petra Kvitova.

Wildcards have been partially announced and include American players Caty McNally and Venus Williams. At 45, Williams is a seven-time major singles champion and former world No. 1 who recently won her first match in over a year in Washington.

The WTA protected ranking system has allowed several players—Bianca Andreescu, Marketa Vondrousova, Sorana Cirstea, Anastasija Sevastova, Lin Zhu, and Wang Yafan—to enter Cincinnati after enforced absences exceeding six months due to injury or pregnancy.

Emma Raducanu, despite falling to 38th in the live WTA Rankings, has secured the 30th seed at Cincinnati based on the previously published rankings before recent withdrawals. The 22-year-old Brit’s seeding benefits from the withdrawals of Andreeva, Zheng, and Badosa.

Taylor Fritz has achieved a milestone no American male player has reached in the ATP Masters 1000 series since its 2009 expansion. The world No. 4 secured a hard-fought victory over Jiri Lehecka in the third round of the 2025 Canadian Open, becoming the first player from outside Europe to reach the quarterfinals of all nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments.

Fritz, seeded second, battled through a tense, high-quality contest against Lehecka that lasted nearly three hours. The match featured no breaks of serve, with Fritz eventually prevailing 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), saving nine break points to his Czech opponent’s five.

Despite the absence of several top players, including Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, and Novak Djokovic, Fritz has emerged as a standout performer in the tournament. Before this run, he had never advanced beyond the third round at this Masters event, but now he stands three wins away from the title.

His achievement places him alongside greats like Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, and Alcaraz, all Europeans who have reached the quarterfinals of all nine events since the series was expanded. Notably, Sinner has yet to reach the Paris Masters quarterfinals.

Fritz has previously made quarterfinals multiple times at Indian Wells (2021, 2022, 2023), Miami (2023, 2025), Monte Carlo (2022, 2023), Cincinnati (2022, 2023), Madrid (2024), Rome (2024), Shanghai (2024), and Paris (2021).

“Making all the Masters quarters is really cool,” Fritz said. “It shows consistency. Today I had to accept that parts of my game were just not there. I was bailed out by a lot of first serves, but I was making too many mistakes.”

Among American players, the challenge of this feat is underscored by the fact that the addition of the Shanghai Masters post-dated players like Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, who never reached quarterfinals in Monte Carlo, while Andy Roddick never made the Monte Carlo quarters either.

Fritz’s next test comes against sixth seed Andrey Rublev for a place in the semifinals. His win also earned him 150 ATP points, moving him closer to the third spot in the rankings behind Zverev, though overtaking him this week is mathematically impossible.

The American’s focus will soon shift to the US Open, where he must defend 1300 points after finishing runner-up in 2024.

Alexei Popyrin returns to the National Bank Open in Toronto carrying the confidence of a reigning champion and a remarkable nine-match winning streak on Canadian soil dating back to 2024. The 25-year-old Australian admits he doesn’t quite understand why his results have improved here despite a less consistent 2025 season. “I think it’s just good vibes, good feelings from last year maybe,” Popyrin said following his resilient three-set victory over No. 5 seed Holger Rune.

Initially feeling the weight of defending 1,000 ranking points from his title last year, Popyrin opted to embrace the possibility of falling short upon arrival in Toronto, which in turn allowed him to play freely on court. “It’s nice to come in here and kind of accept the fact that if you lose you don’t save the 1,000 points,” he explained. “It’s just a nice feeling to just play free, and that’s what I feel I’ve been doing this week.”

The Australian has demonstrated notable mental toughness this week, overcoming first-set deficits against higher-ranked opponents Rune and Daniil Medvedev, a contrast to his 15-16 win-loss record so far in 2025. His potent serve-forehand combination will be essential as he prepares to face the tournament’s top seed, Alexander Zverev.

Zverev, refreshed from time spent at the Rafa Nadal Academy post-Wimbledon, holds a 3-0 lead in their head-to-head matchups without conceding a set; however, two of those matches date back before 2020, and Popyrin’s progress since then suggests this meeting could be more competitive. The Australian has capitalized on opportunities in Toronto before and will look to do so again against the defensively minded German.

With form, momentum, and belief on his side, Popyrin is poised to challenge Zverev in a compelling encounter at the National Bank Open.