Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, the two top tennis players in the world right now, both decided to take a longer break after clashing in the Wimbledon final and withdrew from Canadian Open, leaving the door open for Alexander Zverev to vindicate himself as World No. 3. But fans who missed the rivalry between the Italian and Spaniard won't have to wait much longer for a reunion, as both players are set to take part in Cincinnati Open, the last Masters 1000 before the US Open, which is set to start this weekend, right after the end of the Canadian competition.
Unless there's a last-minute surprise (Novak Djokovic, after all, announced on Tuesday that he was also withdrawing from Cincinnati, focusing only on the US Open later this month), Sinner and Alcaraz will be the top seeded players in the tournament, which, again, means that they would never face in the tournament except for a potential final, on August 18.
As usual, the 32 players will be exempt from the first round, which means that they would debut at the round of 64, which takes place on Saturday or Sunday, August 10 and 11.
Given the time zone, many of these matches may take place late at night (or early in the morning of the following day). We still don't know when will they play, or whom they'll face, which will depend on the outcome of the qualifying round. Meanwhile, many of the seeded players, like Zverev, De Miñaur, Rublev, and Fritz are still playing Canada, in semi-finals.
Seeded players in Cincinnati Open
This is the preliminary list (still not definitive) of players expected to be seeded at the Cincinnati Open. A list with big absences, that include Djokovic, Jack Draper, Grigor Dimitrov, Alexander Bublik, Nick Kyrgios, and Matteo Berrettini.
Remember that the final takes place on Monday, August 18.
Jannik Sinner
Carlos Alcaraz
Alexander Zverev
Taylor Fritz
Ben Shelton
Alex de Minaur
Holger Rune
Lorenzo Musetti
Andrey Rublev
Frances Tiafoe
Casper Ruud
Daniil Medvedev
Tommy Paul
Karen Khachanov
Flavio Cobolli
Jakub Mensik
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Arthur Fils
Tomas Machac
Ugo Humbert
Francisco Cerundolo
Alexei Popyrin
Jiri Lehecka
Felix Auger-Aliassime
Denis Shapovalov
Stefanos Tsitsipas
Tallon Griekspoor
Brandon Nakashima
Alex Michelsen
Luciano Darderi
Gabriel Diallo
Lorenzo Sonego