CINCINNATI (August 6, 2018) -- The Western & Southern Open has announced the seeds for its 2018 tournament, which will take place August 11-19 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio.
The seeds, which are based on today’s rankings from the respective tennis tours, are headlined by the No. 1 ranked players on both the ATP World Tour – Rafael Nadal – and the WTA – Simona Halep. Sixteen players from each 56-player field are seeded, with the top eight seeds receiving first round byes.
Based on their current ranking, a number of veteran players who have frequently enjoyed a bye will not have that benefit this year and will have to play a first round match. For the women's players, the opening round takes place Monday and Tuesday, while the men's first round is played over three days, from Sunday until Tuesday.
Those players who will not have a bye include, to name a few, two-time W&S Open champion Serena Williams, 2011 champion Maria Sharapova, 2013 winner Victoria Azarenka, 2016 champion Karolina Pliskova and seven-time Major champion Venus Williams from the WTA.
Five-time W&S Open finalist and reigning Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic, two-time Cincinnati winner Andy Murray, three-time Major champion Stan Wawrinka, 2017 W&S Open finalist Nick Kyrgios and the top-ranked American, John Isner, are among the ATP stars who will be in action early in the week.
Below are the 16 seeds for each draw (italics indicates a player with a first-round bye):
WTA
|
ATP World Tour
|
Seed/Rank Player (Country)
|
Seed/Rank Player (Country)
|
| 1/1 Simona Halep (Romania |
1/1 Rafael Nadal (Spain) |
| 2/2 Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) |
2/2 Roger Federer (Switzerland) |
| 3/3 Sloane Stephens (USA) |
3/3 Alexander Zverev (Germany) |
| 4/4 Angelique Kerber (Germany) |
4/4 Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina) |
| 5/5 Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) |
5/5 Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) |
| 6/6 Caroline Garcia (France) |
6/6 Kevin Anderson (South Africa) |
| 7/7 Garbiñe Muguruza (Spain) |
7/7 Marin Cilic (Croatia) |
| 8/8 Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) |
8/8 Dominic Thiem (Austria) |
| 9/9 Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) |
9/9 John Isner (USA) |
| 10/10 Julia Goerges (Germany) |
10/10 Novak Djokovic (Serbia) |
| 11/11 Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) |
11/11 David Goffin (Belgium) |
| 12/12 Daria Kasatkina (Russia) |
12/12 Diego Schwartzman (Argentina) |
| 13/13 Madison Keys (USA) |
13/13 Pablo Carreño Busta (Spain) |
| 14/14 Venus Williams (USA) |
14/14 Fabio Fognini (Italy) |
| 15/15 Elise Mertens (Belgium) |
15/15 Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain) |
| 16/16 Ashleigh Barty (Australia) |
16/16 Kyle Edmund (Great Britain) |
The current WTA entry list can be found here while the ATP entries are here. Twelve women and seven men will complete the fields through the two-round qualifying tournament which will take place Aug. 11-12.
Tickets for all sessions, including the early round matches on Monday and Tuesday are on sale now. The available inventory also includes brand new premium seating areas in the just-built South Building. More information on tickets can be found at shop.cincytennis.com.