Taylor Fritz could not turn the withdrawals of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz into progress at the Canadian Open, where his run ended in the opening round.

The American was beaten in straight sets by Thiago Augustin Tirante, bringing his Masters campaign to a swift close. He now moves on to Cincinnati, where he will have another chance to build momentum before the US Open, which starts at the end of August.

Fritz is set to be the sixth seed at the Cincinnati Open, helped in part by the absence of Sinner and Alcaraz. Both players are missing the event because of injury, and Fritz has already arrived ahead of the tournament, which begins on 15 August.

During his pre-tournament press conference, he was asked whether their withdrawals alter the way he approaches the event. His response was measured, with the American saying the effect only really becomes relevant deep in the draw.

“Maybe once you get to like the later stages of the tournament, but that’s again that’s not something I’m going to think about until it’s like you’re in like the quarterfinals.

“Because like that’s where you’re going to actually see, as a higher seed, you’re not gonna see the difference of them not being there until you’re in like the quarterfinals or the semi-finals. So, up until then, it’s just it’s just another tournament.

“So, obviously, there’s opportunity, but it’s opportunity at the end of the tournament. I think probably the the other top ranked players, like the next guys, probably feel a bit more pressure to like take a title more opportunity.

“But like I said, for me I don’t notice any kind of a difference until you know I would only notice a difference like once I’m in like the quarters or the semis and it would come time to like play one of those guys and I’d have someone that’s not out not to play.”

The Cincinnati draw also offers a reminder of Fritz’s record against the top of the game. He has won only one of six matches against Alcaraz, with that victory coming at the 2025 Laver Cup, which is techinically an exhibition tournament.

Against Sinner, Fritz has one win from five meetings. That success came at Indian Wells in 2021, meaning the American has lost his last four matches against the world No 1.

Alexander Zverev has argued that the Masters 1000 schedule needs a straightforward adjustment after a wave of withdrawals from Canada and Cincinnati again highlighted the strain on leading players.

Before main-draw action began in Canada, 16 players withdrew, with eight men and eight women among the absentees. Cincinnati has also been hit hard, with 14 withdrawals before the event starts tomorrow. Among the notable names missing from both tournaments are Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Karolina Muchova, Victoria Mboko, Jasmine Paolini and Emma Raducanu. Novak Djokovic did not play in Canada.

The issue sits against the backdrop of a major format change in recent years. In 2023, the ATP Tour extended the Masters 1000 events in Madrid, Rome and Shanghai to two weeks, or 12 days, and raised the singles draws to 96 players. That same expansion reached Indian Wells, Miami and Shanghai in 2024, before Canada and Cincinnati were added from the 2025 editions.

Previously, seven of the nine Masters events were played across one week and featured 56-player singles draws. Indian Wells and Miami were each 10-day tournaments.

Zverev is among several top players who have spoken against the longer Masters format. In Cincinnati, he was asked whether players feel compelled to choose between Canada and Cincinnati. “I think that’s what two-week events do, unfortunately, if there is a Slam coming after that,” replied the 29-year-old.

He added: “If you play everything and you’re a top player, you spend seven weeks here in North America. That is quite a long time.

“And I think that’s why a lot of top players, they choose not to play Canada for multiple years now. That’s unfortunately the sad reality of it.”

When asked how to solve the problem, Zverev said: “How it always was. Quite simple.

“Make us be here for two weeks, not seven. For the Masters, it’s two weeks for both of them, and I think that’s an easy fix, regarding top players playing.”

He was also asked whether players would accept lower earnings if Masters events returned to a one-week format. Zverev pointed to his own Rome results, saying: “It’s an interesting question, you know why? Because we’ve had this conversation,” said Zverev. “And the money that tournaments are spending is obviously more because there’s more [players in the] first round that you have to pay.

“But actually if you win the tournament, I can compare because I won the Rome Masters back in 2017, and I think I got close to a million euros back then.

“And then I won it seven years later, 2024, I got 900 grand, so actually, I got less money for winning the same tournament seven years later than I did seven years prior.

“So I don’t think it’s less money if you win, necessarily, if the weeks are shorter.”

The draw for the 2026 Cincinnati Open men’s singles event has been released, and it has already produced a notable concentration of talent in one side of the bracket. Alexander Zverev, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Jodar have all been placed in the same half.

Main draw play at the 125th edition of the men’s event begins on Thursday 13 August and runs through to the singles final on Sunday 23 August. The Masters 1000 tournament is once again one of the key stops in the North American hard-court season and is being staged at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio.

Carlos Alcaraz was the 2025 Cincinnati Open champion, but he is among eight players who withdrew before this year’s tournament. World No 1 Jannik Sinner is also not in the field.

The draw includes 96 players, with 32 seeds receiving byes into the second round. The top eight seeds are Alexander Zverev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Alex de Minaur, Taylor Fritz, Flavio Cobolli and Ben Shelton.

With Sinner and Alcaraz absent, Zverev is the leading seed and opens against either Cameron Norrie or Dino Prizmic. His route could then bring Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the third round, followed by Valentin Vacherot or Tommy Paul in the fourth. A possible quarter-final may feature seventh seed Cobolli, in a rematch of the Roland Garros final, or 12th seed Jodar, who is in sensational form.

Djokovic starts against Thiago Agustin Tirante or Jan Choinski. Matteo Arnaldi, Jack Draper or Martin Landaluce could await in the third round, while Jakub Mensik or Luciano Darderi are potential opponents in the last 16. Alex de Minaur and Jiri Lehecka are the projected quarter-final tests.

In the lower half, the seeded projections point to Fritz against Medvedev and Shelton against Auger-Aliassime in the last eight.