Due in part to torrential rain on Friday, the National Bank Open in Montreal is nowhere close to concluding. Nonetheless, the bracket for the next Masters 1000 tournament is already out.
The Western & Southern Open draw ceremony was held on Saturday afternoon, officially marking Carlos Alcaraz’s return to the court following his silver-medal performance at the Paris Olympics (lost to Novak Djokovic). With Djokovic still resting in between the Olympics and U.S. Open, Alcaraz is the No. 2 seed in Cincinnati behind Jannik Sinner. Other first-round bye recipients are Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Hubert Hurkacz, Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, and Grigor Dimitrov.
If the top eight seeds all advance, quarterfinal matchups would be Sinner vs. Rublev, Zverev vs. Dimitrov, Medvedev vs. Hurkacz, and Alcaraz vs. Ruud.
Of course, it’s highly unlikely that the Cincinnati Masters follows any kind of script. The North American hard-court summer is always a busy stretch that naturally results in fatigue and therefore plenty of upsets. Factor in the Olympics and the summer of 2024 is an especially grueling time of year. Ruud withdrew from Montreal prior to the third round, Hurkacz is coming back from meniscus surgery and has been putting in a big effort north of the border, and Alcaraz has not played a match on hard courts since Miami.
First-round matches to watch in Cincinnati are Holger Rune vs. Matteo Berrettini, Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Jan-Lennard Struff, Frances Tiafoe vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Ben Shelton vs. Reilly Opelka, Karen Khachanov vs. Francisco Cerundolo, and Taylor Fritz vs. Brandon Nakashima.
[yop_poll id=”1419″]
who ya got?
Impossible to predict. However Alcaraz did make the transition from clay, at RG, to grass pretty easily in the end, though he did lose one match at Queens to Draper, which I saw! (humble brag :))
And what is up with Sinner? Hadn’t been near clay.
Yeah its guesswork with Montreal not even finished and Sinner injured.
In Montreal,I didnt have Hurkacz or Zverev going far as thought they were injured.
Now for Cinci,not even a given they will take part
Why cant they have a fwew days off between these tournaments.
I think a lot of palyers struggled not just with the change from Clay –Hard but the balls are totally different
Personally I like the trend towards longer Masters series and fewer of the smaller tournaments. Players need to concentrate on and be fit for the ones that really matter
In the spirit of, “I haven’t got a clue,” my picks are a bit off the wall!
Montreal certainly off the wall.
as expected