Karen Khachanov reached a notable career milestone on Sunday in Cincinnati, recording his 200th hard-court tour-level win by defeating Valentin Royer 6-4, 7-6 (6) in the opening round.

The landmark had nearly arrived three days earlier in Toronto, where Khachanov came within four points of the mark while contesting the final. He had produced a deep run in Canada, reaching the second Masters 1000 final of his career and his first since 2018, when he won indoors in Paris, before finishing runner-up to Ben Shelton on Thursday night.

Sunday’s match against French qualifier Royer required work. Khachanov closed out the first set 6-4, then recovered from 4-2 down in the second set and faced a 4-1 deficit in the tiebreak. He even trailed by a set point at 6-5 in the breaker, but won the final three points to secure the match and the 200th hard-court victory.

The milestone places Khachanov among a select group of players; he became the 10th man born in 1990 or later to reach 200 career hard-court wins, and the seventh man born in 1996 or later—or even 1992 or later—to do so. The result continues a strong recent run for Khachanov, who has won 13 of his last 16 matches, a stretch that dates back to the grass-court season and includes a semifinal in Halle, a quarterfinal at Wimbledon and the final in Toronto.

Khachanov entered that run ranked No. 22 and is now No. 12. A former world No. 8, he has a good chance of returning to the Top 10 after Cincinnati. Awaiting him in the third round is American wild card Jenson Brooksby, who defeated French lucky loser Arthur Cazaux earlier in the day, 7-5, 6-1.

The Cincinnati Open will stage a notable rematch from the 2025 Wimbledon Championships as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka meets Emma Raducanu on Monday. Their third-round encounter at Wimbledon was tightly contested and the pairing now shifts from grass to hard courts.

Raducanu, a former world No. 10 and the No. 30 seed in Cincinnati, pushed Sabalenka to the limit at Wimbledon, forcing a tiebreak in the first set and holding a 4-1 lead in the second before Sabalenka closed out a 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory. Sabalenka noted the quality of that match after her opening-round win over Marketa Vondrousova. “She challenged me in that match,” Sabalenka said in a post-match mixed zone following her opening-round win over Marketa Vondrousova, “and I like to accept tough challenges, so I’m super excited facing her on a hard court.”

Raducanu framed the meeting as a measuring stick for her progress after a period of injuries and surgeries that saw her ranking fall to No. 303 in April 2024 before she climbed back up. “I would say I thought, ‘I would love to have another crack at that, on grass, tomorrow,’” Raducanu said with a laugh after her own opening win against Olga Danilovic. “But I know and I’m honestly reasonable enough and honest enough with myself to know that different surfaces favor different people and where my game is at in comparison.

“I think the grass gave me a bit of an advantage, but we’ll see how it goes [on hard courts].”

Raducanu described the match as a diagnostic test. “It’s like a fact-finding match so you can see where you are in comparison to the top. I also think form fluctuates so much on the day, so you can lose 2&1 one day, and you could make it close the next day. It can be down to a few points. I’m excited either way. Aryna is world No. 1, so it’ll be an exciting match and a good experience. Emma Raducanu on facing Aryna Sabalenka in Cincinnati”

Sabalenka arrives with strong hard-court credentials, having won a US Open title last summer after first taking the Cincinnati crown, and she has been a top performer on the surface since winning her first of two Australian Open titles in 2023. Sabalenka also praised Raducanu after Wimbledon. “She played incredible tennis,” said Sabalenka. “I’m super happy to see her mentally and physically back. She’ll definitely be back in Top 10 very soon.”

Raducanu’s team has recently added Francisco Roig and she emphasises steady improvement rather than immediate targeting of major titles. “It’s important being seeded at these tournaments,” said Raducanu, the No. 30 seed in Cincinnati. “At Masters, you get a bye, which helps a lot. Then at the Slams, you avoid playing a top seed in the first round. Equally, with the stage that I’m at with my tennis and my development right now, it’s about just improving the overall level and feeling I have on court, not having holes as much, I think that’s my main priority.

“I know there will be a time where I’ll be targeting big tournaments, Masters, and Slams. Right now, that’s not my goal. My goal is to improve as a player.”

CINCINNATI, Ohio — Clara Tauson arrived in Cincinnati having barely paused. After taking four days off following Wimbledon, the world No. 15 played through the three-week US Open swing and flew from the Omnium Banque Nationale to the Cincinnati Open with less than 48 hours between landing and her first match.

The Danish 22-year-old, coming off a semifinal run in Montréal — her second WTA 1000 semifinal of the season — described a compressed schedule that left little room for preparation. “I didn’t really have any turnaround, to be honest,” she said. “I had a one-hour hit on Friday and then I was playing doubles first match on Saturday. I wasn’t too happy about that, but nothing I could do, apparently.”

Tauson accepted a private jet offered after the singles final, a choice she called a mixed result. “It took a really long time,” she said after a three-set singles victory over Ajla Tomljanovic on Sunday. “We landed here, like, 3AM, and I was on the practice court in the afternoon and then playing doubles was obviously hard. I made the most of it.

“I’m practicing a little bit less, obviously, because I’ve had so many matches in a row. I’m still in it in doubles [with Magda Linette] here, also. We won our first match, so I don’t really have too much down time, to be honest! Hopefully, a day off tomorrow and just a light hit. Then we’ll see for the next day.”

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships runner-up prefers match play to practice, even as the schedule strains recovery. “It’s obviously been a really long year, and there’s a really long time left,” she smiled. “I always find peace in knowing there’s a tournament every single week, so if I don’t do well this week, I have another week next week and the week after. I can’t really complain about my situation right now.”

Asked what she would change, Tauson was blunt about needing a proper summer break. “I would love, say, one or two weeks where there’s no tournaments, and there’s nothing to look at or be annoyed by that you’re not playing. Then, obviously, the pre-season could be a little bit longer. But that’s my take on it. It’s obviously a lot when you can see other people playing and maybe you took the week off, and you feel left out.”

She admitted it is hard to unplug. “You see it everywhere: social media, Resultina, all the apps,” said Tauson. “So, you can’t really log out completely. I try to not look as much, but it’s really difficult. “Maybe I’m looking a little bit less at the lower tournaments, but most of the time, I know what’s going on, even in the juniors!” she added with a laugh. Tauson will next face Veronika Kudermetova in the third round.