DRAW WTA Cincinnati Open 2025 led by Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek in US Open pre-cursor

The final knockings of action before the US Open are upon us with Aryna Sabalenka leading the field at the 2025 Cincinnati Open which is due to take place between August 7-18, 2025 ironically as the Canadian Open.

Much conjecture has taken place this week with the Cincinnati Open overlapping with the Canadian Open which vastly disadvantages Osaka, Rybakina, Svitolina and Mboko who are the last four in Montreal who then have to go onto Cincinnati and play likely a day after they complete the tournament.

With both being 12 day events and the onus is to get them done before the US Open, it has meant an overlap and also some confusion about the draw itself. The men's took place on Tuesday and the women's was due to take place on Wednesday duly noted as it is a mere day before the action gets underway. But randomly it was dropped late on Tuesday night after all.

Sabalenka decided not to play in Canada which in hindsight given the poor scheduling from both tournaments was perhaps the good decision. She could play Emma Raducanu very early in a repeat of their Wimbledon tie. Raducanu now has Francisco Roig as her coach with Mark Petchey staying around but working for Tennis Channel and ESPN during the American swing especially he is not prepared to give up that role so Roig steps in till the end of the year.

She faces potentially fellow Brit Katie Boulter first followed or Olga Danilovic while Sabalenka meets Marketa Vondrousova or Jaqueline Cristian. The winners then meet in the third round. Elena Rybakina who like mooted is still in Canada is also in this section, she meets Renata Zarazua or Yulia Putintseva. Then could face Elise Mertens in the third round. Leylah Fernandez just above is pencilled in potentially to face Venus Williams unless Jessica Bouzas Maniero has other ideas.

Iga Swiatek and Madison Keys sit part of the draw. Keys faces Bernarda Pera or Eva Lys while Swiatek opens against Anastasia Potapova or a qualifier. Marta Kostyuk if she gets to Cincinnati with an injury blighting her in Montreal could await. She faces Tatjana Maria.

Victoria Mboko who is still in Canada gets a performance bye it seems if she doesn't go out in the semi's and could face a qualifier or lucky loser if not. Diana Shnaider has benefited from a bye to face the winner so it could be Mboko v Shnaider without a game played in that part of the draw. Amanda Anisimova faces Yullia Starodubtseva and could face Anna Kalinskaya, they sit at the bottom of the first section.

Emma Navarro heads up the bottom half with McCartney Kessler on her collision course. But of the other big names. Jessica Pegula opens up against either Anna Blinkova or Kimberly Birrell desperate to turn off the shock tap which seems to be blighting her right now. Osaka is also in the same predicament as Mboko and could get a bye or not. She is pencilled in to play Linda Noskova then ironically could meet Elina Svitolina who is also in the semi-finals in the third round.

Coco Gauff is the second seed and opens up against Xinyu Wang or Emiliana Arango. Her immediate danger comes from Dayana Yastremska who beat her at Wimbledon but it is otherwise an open part with likely Kasatkina or Svitolina in the latter stages her biggest issue.

Last year Aryna Sabalenka sealed the title without dropping a set for the first time. Iga Swiatek is the only one of the top four seeds who has not made a Cincinnati final. She lost to Gauff in the semi-finals in 2023. Madison Keys is the only former Cincinnati champion alongside Sabalenka.