Pliskova Defends, But No. 1 Ranking Contenders Trail at Cincinnati; Preview
Five women could lead Cincinnati with the No. 1 ranking, depending on results at the Rogers Cup. Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza, Caroline Wozniacki, and Elina Svitolina all have a mathematical chance of overtaking defending champion and No. 1 Karolina Pliskova prior to the US Open.
Here’s a look at next week’s Cincinnati field:
WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN
CINCINNATI, Ohio, USA; surface: hard
Seeds: Karolina Pliskova, Simona Halep, Angelique Kerber, Garbine Muguruza, Elina Svitolina, Caroline Wozniacki, Johanna Konta, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Venus Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska, Dominika Cibulkova, Jelena Ostapenko, Kristina Mladenovic, Petra Kvitova, Anastasija Sevastova, and Madison Keys
Floaters: Alison Riske, CoCo Vandeweghe, Julia Goerges, Anett Kontaveit, Ekaterina Makarova
Notes:
The Top 8 seeds receive opening-round byes…
(1) Pliskova and (2) Halep both start against qualifiers…
Tough starts for (9) Williams vs. her American countrywoman Riske, (16) Keys vs. Vandeweghe in a rematch of the Stanford final a week ago, (10) Radwanska vs. the resurgent Goerges, (14) Kvitova vs. the breakout player Kontaveit, and the struggling (3) Kerber vs. Makarova…
Wildcards were awarded to France’s Oceane Dodin, former No. 1 Maria Sharapova (withdrew) and Sloane Stephens…
Samantha Stosur and Maria Sharapova withdrew from the field…
Plsikova beat Kerber in last year’s final…
Pliskova (2016) is the lone former champ in the field.
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