Cincinnati (Tennis news): The Western and Southern Open mostly known as the Cincinnati Open Masters 1000 has gotten underway. With the big three missing, there will be plenty of opportunities, especially for the new gen who are slowly making a mark on the tour. With Alexander Zverev capturing the gold in the Tokyo Olympics and Daniil Medevdev winning the title in Toronto they will be keen to make a name in the US Open too. Roger Federer has the most titles in Cincinnati with his 7th title coming in 2015 where he defeated Novak Djokovic. Defending champion Novak Djkovic is also out due to injury along with Rafael Nadal and Federer won't be in action for a few months missing out on the final slam. Daniil Medvedev will be expected to win his second title here as he won it in 2019 defeating David Goffin in straight sets. He will be strongly challenged by Stefanos Tsitsipas who reached the semifinals of the recently concluded Toronto Open, Reily Opelka has been in tremendous form as he finished as runner up in Toronto. Andy Murray will also look for inspiration as has won the titles in 2008 and 2011 and will look to bring his old magic into the court.
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In Men’s Singles, 2019 runner up David Goffin lost to Guido Pella in straight sets in the first round. Both the players were coming back after being affected by injuries. Pella was joined by Benoit Paire who defeated Miomir Kecmanović in three sets. He had a shaky start as he lost the first set 7-5 but came back strongly 6-3,6-2 to proceed to the round of 64.
Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov started off their doubles campaign by defeating Máximo González and Simone Bolelli in a three set gruelling encounter. They will be facing Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers in the round of 16.
The Women’s Singles and doubles opening rounds will start today. Simona Halep will be looking to finish strong before the US Open in Singles and the pair of Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani will look to win back to back titles in doubles.
