Carlos Alcaraz will not be in the men’s draw at the 2026 Cincinnati Open, but the event still carries major weight with Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev among the leading names.

The tournament will stage its 125th men’s edition in Mason, Ohio, from 13 to 23 August at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. Sitting as the second hard-court ATP Masters 1000 event of the North American summer swing, Cincinnati also stands as the final major stop before the US Open.

Alcaraz arrives as the reigning champion after winning his first Cincinnati Open title in 2025, yet he will not defend that crown because of a right wrist injury. His absence reshapes the top of the field, even as the draw remains deep and competitive.

The men’s singles main draw includes 96 players, with 32 seeded entrants. There are 12 qualifiers and five wildcards, giving the event its familiar blend of established contenders and players coming through different routes into the main field.

Prize money for the 2026 tournament totals $9,415,725, underlining the scale of the event on the ATP calendar. Ranking points are also significant, with 1,000 awarded to the champion, 650 to the runner-up, 400 to the semi-finalists, 200 to the quarter-finalists and 100 to the round of 16.

The projected seeds are headed by Sinner at No. 1, followed by Zverev, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Djokovic. Daniil Medvedev, Alex de Minaur, Taylor Fritz and Flavio Cobolli fill out the top eight, while Ben Shelton, Jiri Lehecka, Lorenzo Musetti and Casper Ruud are also placed among the seeds.

Beyond the seeded list, the draw features a wide range of other entries, plus wildcards Grigor Dimitrov, Jack Draper, Gael Monfils, Stan Wawrinka and Jenson Brooksby.

Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Alex Eala are among the leading names confirmed for the 2026 Cincinnati Open, which will once again bring a deep WTA field to Mason, Ohio.

The women’s event runs from 13 to 23 August and will be the 98th edition of the tournament. Played on hard courts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, it stands as the final major warm-up before the US Open.

Swiatek arrives as the defending champion. She won her first Cincinnati Open title in 2025 by defeating Jasmine Paolini in the final.

The women’s singles main draw will feature 96 players in total, with 32 seeded entrants. There will be 12 qualifiers and eight wildcards in the field.

Seven of those wildcard places have already been confirmed. The recipients are Lois Boisson, Caroline Dolehide, Elvina Kalieva, Sloane Stephens, Taylor Townsend, Darja Vidmanova and Venus Williams.

Prize money for the event will total $7,433,076, underlining the tournament’s status as one of the most significant stops on the WTA calendar.

The ranking points on offer are equally substantial. The champion will earn 1,000 points, with 650 going to the runner-up. Semi-finalists receive 390 points, quarter-finalists 215 and fourth-round players 120. Third round exits are worth 65 points, second round 35 points for seeded players and 10 for others, while first-round losers receive 10 points.

The projected seed list is headed by Sabalenka, followed by Rybakina, Jessica Pegula, Gauff, Mirra Andreeva, Karolina Muchova, Linda Noskova and Swiatek. Alex Eala is projected at No. 18.

Alex Eala’s surge to the Washington Open crown has made her one of the more intriguing names to watch before the US Open.

The Filipina captured the title by defeating Jessica Pegula in three sets. Along the way, she also beat Elina Svitolina and Naomi Osaka, adding more weight to a breakout run that has sharpened attention on what might come next.

Eala is set to continue her buildup through the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open before arriving in New York. That sequence has already prompted plenty of interest from her supporters, who are eager to see whether she can produce another strong showing at Flushing Meadows this year.

Her 2025 US Open already offered a breakthrough moment. There, she recorded the first Grand Slam main draw victory of her career by overcoming Clara Tauson before falling to Cristina Bucsa in the second round.

Recent history suggests the Washington title can be a useful marker for the next major. The last five Washington Open winners before Eala were Leylah Fernandez, Paula Badosa, Coco Gauff, Liudmila Samsonova and Jessica Pegula.

The record has been varied, but none of those champions exited in the first two rounds of the US Open. Fernandez reached the third round last year, Badosa went on to make the quarter-finals in 2023, and Samsonova reached the fourth round in 2022. Pegula advanced to the third round in 2021.

The standout case remains Gauff, who won in Washington and then captured the US Open in the same season, beating Maria Sakkari in the final. If Eala can follow a similar path, she would register the best US Open result of her career.