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WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN SEEDS ANNOUNCED

Serena, Venus, Sharapova, Djokovic, Murray and Wawrinka Among Players Without First Round Bye

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.

Andy Murray (Photo: Mike Renz for Tennis Atlantic)

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):

Simona Halep, Citi Open 2017 (Photo: Tennis Atlantic)

Simona Halep, 2017 (Photo: Tennis Atlantic)

WTA
Seed/Rank Player (Country)
1/1 Simona Halep (Romania)
2/2 Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark)
3/3 Sloane Stephens (USA)
4/4 Angelique Kerber (Germany)
5/5 Elina Svitolina (Ukraine)
6/6 Caroline Garcia (France)
7/7 Garbiñe Muguruza (Spain)
8/8 Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic)
9/9 Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic)
10/10 Julia Goerges (Germany)
11/11 Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia)
12/12 Daria Kasatkina (Russia)
13/13 Madison Keys (USA)
14/14 Venus Williams (USA)
15/15 Elise Mertens (Belgium)
16/16 Ashleigh Barty (Australia)

Djokovic (Photo: Courtney Massey)

ATP World Tour
Seed/Rank Player (Country)
1/1 Rafael Nadal (Spain)
2/2 Roger Federer (Switzerland)
3/3 Alexander Zverev (Germany)
4/4 Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina)
5/5 Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria)
6/6 Kevin Anderson (South Africa)
7/7 Marin Cilic (Croatia)
8/8 Dominic Thiem (Austria)
9/9 John Isner (USA)
10/10 Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
11/11 David Goffin (Belgium)
12/12 Diego Schwartzman (Argentina)
13/13 Pablo Carreño Busta (Spain)
14/14 Fabio Fognini (Italy)
15/15 Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain)
16/16 Kyle Edmund (Great Britain)
These seeds are subject to change should there be any changes in the entry list this week.

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.

Maria Sharapova Calls a @CincyTennis 3-Way ‘Dodgy’; I Call it ‘Dinner’

Maria Sharapova at 2014 Western & Southern

God Bless Maria Sharapova for turning me on to the 3 way. One of the Big Tennis Press here is fixated on Mason, Ohio food offerings, and every other question at Monday’s pressers was about the (lack of healthy) food choices at the tournament and its surrounding environs. Seriously, it was if Applebee’s had paid for an in-press conference mention at every single presser yesterday. Straight out of Talladega Nights.

When told about the Cincinnati specialty at an interview preceding her press conference at the Western & Southern Open in Mason yesterday, Sharapova derided the idea of a dish named “The 3-way” as “really dodgy”.

“They told us that the famous dish in Cincinnati is called a ‘3 way’. That’s a little dodgy, that’s really dodgy. So when that’s the popular dish, you know there’s not a lot of (healthy) alternatives”, she said.

Western & Southern Official Chili Cincinnati Reds

So what do I do? I immediately go to the nearest place serving 3-way by my hotel. It’s at a fast food chili joint. Not just any fast food chili joint, though, but the Official Chili of the Cincinnati Reds Baseball Club. The Pete Rose of Chili Bowls. Booyah.

I ask for the 3-way just like Maria taught me, totally sounding like a local. When the bill comes back for $5.54, I look like an out-of-towner with a bad poker face. $5.54? I can’t go to Maryland and eat the Crab Cakes for $5.54. I can’t go to Miami and eat the Stone Crab Claws for $5.54. Hell, I can’t even go to Atlanta and eat the hideous Brunswick Stew for $5.54. I couldn’t even get into a Cincinnati Reds game and watch Pete Rose play/manage/gamble back in 1985 for $5.54. Wuddaboggin!

Western & Southern 3 Way Unassembled

It arrives as a plate of cinnamon and chocolate-laced chili topping a mound of spaghetti. That part looked good. The rest of the contents in the bag were what alarmed me. Not one but two hefty bags of cheddar. To tops things off (literally) was a packet of Oyster crackers. I ate the whole thing in five minutes, skipping the oyster crackers.

Western & Southern 3 Way Assembled

I could have gone up to 5-way, but I couldn’t imagine what Maria would have thought of that. Definitely obscene.

Maria opens up on Center Court against Madison Keys at 3:00 p.m. today. Hopefully, my cinnamon-flavored burps will have subsided by that time. And if Sharapova wins the Cincy title, she should plunk down the $5.54 and force down a plate of that deliciousness.

—S. Fogleman