Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, did not receive a wild card for the Cincinnati Open, but British No. 1s Katie Boulter and Jack Draper will compete in the women’s and men’s singles draws, respectively.
Jack Draper is set to face Spanish qualifier Jaume Munar in the first round, with the possibility of a second-round encounter against ninth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. Meanwhile, Katie Boulter is matched up against Poland’s Magda Linette in her opening round.
Cameron Norrie was also scheduled to participate in the men’s draw, but he has withdrawn from a third consecutive tournament due to injury, casting doubt on his participation in the upcoming US Open. Norrie has not competed since mid-July at the Swedish Open, having also pulled out of the Paris Olympics and the Canadian Open.
Raducanu reached the quarter-finals of the Mubadala Citi Open in Washington earlier this month, where she was defeated by eventual champion Paula Badosa. That match is likely to be the 21-year-old’s final competitive appearance before heading to New York.
Wimbledon semi-finalist and Olympic silver-medalist Donna Vekic, the 16th seed from Croatia, will face the USA’s Ashlyn Krueger at 8 pm. Additionally, three-time Grand Slam semi-finalist Elina Svitolina from Ukraine will go up against China’s Yafan Wang from midnight.
In the men’s draw, another Wimbledon semi-finalist, Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti, seeded 14th, will take on Chile’s Nicolas Jarry at around 8 pm. Meanwhile, the 11th-seeded American Taylor Fritz will battle fellow countryman Brandon Nakashima from midnight.
Other American contenders, Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe, who clashed in the quarter-finals of last year’s US Open, are also set to begin their campaigns in Cincinnati on Tuesday. Shelton, the 10th seed, will face fellow American Reilly Opelka at approximately 8 pm, while Tiafoe faces a challenging opener against Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina around 6 pm.
Defending Champion Djokovic Withdraws
Novak Djokovic, the defending champion of the Cincinnati Open, has withdrawn from the tournament following his achievement of completing the Golden Slam with an Olympic gold medal at Paris 2024.
Djokovic, the record 24-time Grand Slam champion, recently defeated Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz 7-6, 7-6 in the men’s singles final at the Olympics.
Last year, Djokovic also triumphed over Alcaraz to claim the Cincinnati title, winning an epic final 5-7, 7-6, 7-6 that lasted nearly four hours.
Djokovic remains the defending champion of the US Open, having secured his fourth title at Flushing Meadows and his most recent Grand Slam victory there last year.
