Levi Rothermund
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The WTA Tour swings back to the United States after its Canadian stop, and the Cincinnati Open is the final WTA 1000 before the US Open. Nine of the world’s top 10 are entered. Five former Cincinnati champions are back. Ten Grand Slam winners are on the list — including a reigning Wimbledon champion who isn’t seeded in the top five. And in the doubles draw, Serena and Venus Williams reunite on a wild card, 14 Grand Slam doubles titles between them and nearly four years since they last played a match as a team.
The tournament is a joint ATP-WTA event on outdoor hard courts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio.
Cincinnati Open 2026 Schedule: Every Round Date
Main-draw play begins Thursday, August 13 and runs through Sunday, August 23. The singles final is scheduled for no earlier than 7 p.m. local time (12 a.m. BST / 1 a.m. CEST). The doubles final goes the day before, August 22 at 11 a.m.
Singles draw
| Round | Dates |
|---|---|
| First round | August 13-14 |
| Second round | August 15-16 |
| Third round | August 17-18 |
| Fourth round | August 19 |
| Quarter-finals | August 20-21 |
| Semi-finals | August 22 |
| Final | August 23 |
Doubles draw
| Round | Dates |
|---|---|
| First round | August 16-17 |
| Second round | August 18-19 |
| Quarter-finals | August 20 |
| Semi-finals | August 21 |
| Final | August 22 |
The singles draw ceremony is set for Tuesday, August 11 at 3 p.m. local time, with the doubles draw released on August 14.
Linda Noskova Headlines as Reigning Wimbledon Champion
The most striking line in this draw is a seeding number. Linda Noskova won Wimbledon five weeks ago and arrives in Ohio seeded seventh.
The 21-year-old Czech beat compatriot Karolina Muchova 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 in an all-Czech final on July 11 for her first major and only her third career WTA title. She saved a match point in the third round against Sorana Cirstea to get there. At 21 years and 236 days she became the youngest Wimbledon champion since Petra Kvitova in 2011, and the final made Czechia the sixth country of the Open Era to put two of its own into a major singles decider.
Hard courts are a different question from grass, and Cincinnati will be the first real read on whether the Wimbledon fortnight was a breakthrough or a hot two weeks. Either way, a Wimbledon champion at No. 7 is the kind of seeding quirk that wrecks a quarter.
Cincinnati Open Singles Draw and Key Players
The singles field holds 96 players, with the top 32 seeds receiving byes into the second round. Aryna Sabalenka heads the draw as top seed, with Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff anchoring the remaining quarters.
Five past Cincinnati champions are in the field: Sabalenka (2024), Gauff (2023), Iga Swiatek (2025), Madison Keys (2019) and Karolina Pliskova (2016). Naomi Osaka (2020 finalist) and Pegula (2024 finalist) return with unfinished business at the event.
Behind the top four, the seedings run through Mirra Andreeva, Noskova, Swiatek, Amanda Anisimova, Elina Svitolina and Marta Kostyuk.
Eala at 17: The Seed Nobody Wants to Draw
Alexandra Eala is seeded 17th, which undersells her considerably. The Filipina beat Swiatek in the Wimbledon third round to knock out the defending champion, and has since added a WTA 500 title to her season. She’s the kind of floating seed the top four will be checking for when the bracket drops.
Swiatek, for her part, comes to Cincinnati defending a title while ranked outside the top five and carrying the memory of that Wimbledon exit. She has been the best late-summer player on tour for two years running. This is where she’d want to answer.
Cincinnati Open Withdrawals: Who’s Missing and Why
Injuries have cut deep into the women’s field.
| Player | Reason |
|---|---|
| Karolina Muchova (Wimbledon finalist) | Minor surgery; not expected to be a long-term absence |
| Jasmine Paolini (2025 Cincinnati finalist) | Injury |
| Emma Raducanu | Stress fracture in her leg; no return timeline |
| Victoria Mboko | Torn MCL suffered at the HSBC Championships; could miss the rest of the season |
| Hailey Baptiste | Injury |
| Jaqueline Cristian | Injury |
Raducanu’s is the most open-ended. With no timeline and rest the only treatment for a stress fracture, she is not expected in New York either, and a longer absence is possible.
Moved into the main draw: Kamilla Rakhimova, Maria Timofeeva, Taylor Townsend, Simona Waltert, Yulia Putintseva and Maya Joint. Townsend originally held a wild card but moved in on ranking following the withdrawals, freeing that wild card for reallocation.
Wild cards: Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, Darja Vidmanova, Elvina Kalieva, Caroline Dolehide, Lois Boisson — more to be confirmed.
Next eight alternates: Renata Zarazua, Lilli Tagger, Eva Lys, Solana Sierra, Aoi Ito, Oksana Selekhmeteva, Wang Xiyu, Alina Korneeva.
Serena and Venus Williams Reunite in the Cincinnati Doubles Draw
The biggest ticket-mover in Mason isn’t in the singles bracket. Serena and Venus Williams have accepted a doubles wild card, setting up their first match as a team since the 2022 US Open and their first ever Cincinnati appearance as a pairing.
They were meant to do this at Wimbledon. That reunion collapsed when Serena withdrew from the doubles with a knee injury after losing her opening singles match to Maya Joint — who, in a neat piece of scheduling symmetry, has now moved into the Cincinnati main draw.
Between them the sisters hold 14 Grand Slam doubles titles and three Olympic gold medals in doubles. Venus, 46, also received a singles wild card; she owns a 12-10 career record at this event with a semi-final in 2012 and a quarter-final in 2019. Serena is entered in doubles only.
Cincinnati Open Projected Seeds 2026
Seedings are based on the rankings of August 3 and remain projected until the draw ceremony.
| Seed | Player | Seed | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aryna Sabalenka | 17 | Alexandra Eala |
| 2 | Elena Rybakina | 18 | Anna Kalinskaya |
| 3 | Jessica Pegula | 19 | Maja Chwalinska |
| 4 | Coco Gauff | 20 | Madison Keys |
| 5 | Mirra Andreeva | 21 | Elise Mertens |
| 6 | Linda Noskova | 22 | Marie Bouzkova |
| 7 | Iga Swiatek | 23 | Barbora Krejcikova |
| 8 | Amanda Anisimova | 24 | Anastasia Potapova |
| 9 | Elina Svitolina | 25 | Emma Navarro |
| 10 | Marta Kostyuk | 26 | Jelena Ostapenko |
| 11 | Naomi Osaka | 27 | Clara Tauson |
| 12 | Belinda Bencic | 28 | Ann Li |
| 13 | Iva Jovic | 29 | Maria Sakkari |
| 14 | Diana Shnaider | 30 | Leylah Fernandez |
| 15 | Sorana Cirstea | 31 | Donna Vekic |
| 16 | Ekaterina Alexandrova | 32 | Janice Tjen |
Defending Champions: Swiatek and the Dabrowski-Routliffe Axis
Iga Swiatek took the 2025 Cincinnati title — her 24th career WTA singles title and 11th WTA 1000 — with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Paolini. She did not drop a set all week, beating Rybakina, Kalinskaya, Cirstea and Potapova on the way to the final. It capped a summer that also brought Wimbledon and, a month later, a title in Seoul.
“I don’t know why I win the tournaments that we’re like the last ones in terms of what I thought they were going to be. So, thank you [to my team] for forcing me to become a better player and learn how to play on all these faster surfaces.” — Iga Swiatek, 2025 Cincinnati champion
In doubles, Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe beat Guo Hanyu and Alexandra Panova 6-4, 6-3. It was Routliffe’s second straight Cincinnati title — she won in 2024 alongside Asia Muhammad — and both of her WTA 1000 trophies have come at this event. For Dabrowski it was a fifth career WTA 1000 doubles title, won a year on from radiation treatment.
Cincinnati Open Prize Money and Ranking Points
Total prize money stands at $7,433,076. As a WTA 1000, 1,000 ranking points are on offer in both the PIF WTA Rankings and the Race to the WTA Finals — which this year lands at Indian Wells, November 8-15, after the WTA moved the event out of Riyadh.
Singles
| Round | Points | Prize money |
|---|---|---|
| First round | 10 | $16,260 |
| Second round | 35 | $26,255 |
| Third round | 65 | $47,375 |
| Fourth round | 120 | $81,752 |
| Quarter-final | 215 | $154,210 |
| Semi-final | 390 | $297,315 |
| Finalist | 650 | $564,920 |
| Champion | 1000 | $1,085,220 |
Doubles
| Round | Points | Prize money |
|---|---|---|
| First round | 10 | $15,800 |
| Second round | 120 | $28,810 |
| Quarter-final | 215 | $53,900 |
| Semi-final | 390 | $107,760 |
| Finalist | 650 | $200,690 |
| Champion | 1000 | $379,080 |
One wrinkle makes the maths messier than usual this year. Because the 2026 edition sits a week later on the calendar, players are dropping points from the 2025 Cincinnati Open and from Monterrey and Cleveland, both held the week of August 18 last year. Most of the top names skip the pre-US Open week, so they have nothing to defend there — but for players outside the top tier who played those events, the swing cuts both ways.
Cincinnati Open 2026 FAQ
When does the Cincinnati Open WTA main draw start?
Thursday, August 13, running through the singles final on Sunday, August 23.
Who is the defending champion?
Iga Swiatek, who beat Jasmine Paolini 7-5, 6-4 in the 2025 final without dropping a set all tournament. She is seeded seventh this year.
Are Serena and Venus Williams playing singles?
Venus holds a singles wild card. Serena is entered in doubles only, where the pair play their first match together since the 2022 US Open.
Who has withdrawn from the Cincinnati Open?
Karolina Muchova, Jasmine Paolini, Emma Raducanu, Victoria Mboko, Hailey Baptiste and Jaqueline Cristian.
How many ranking points does the winner get?
1,000, counting toward both the PIF WTA Rankings and the Race to the WTA Finals at Indian Wells.
How big is the draw?
96 singles players, with the top 32 seeds receiving first-round byes.
What Cincinnati Decides
Two weeks from now the US Open draw goes up, and the seedings that shape it get settled here. Sabalenka is defending her position at the top. Swiatek is defending a title from a seed that doesn’t reflect what she’s done in August. Noskova is finding out what a Wimbledon title is worth on a hard court. And Rybakina, the Australian Open champion, has been the most consistent big-match player of 2026 without quite owning the narrative.
Add the Williams sisters walking out together for the first time since 2022, and a stacked bracket where nine of the top 10 are in play, and this is the most consequential week left on the calendar before New York.
For odds, previews and match-by-match analysis across the fortnight, Tips.gg has the tournament covered from the draw through to finals Sunday.