news-engine

IGA LAUNCHES TITLE DEFENSE, BATTLE FOR NO. 1 WAGES ON By Richard Osborn There’ll be no shortage of action on Sunday at the Cincinnati Open, which will feature 42 matches across the men’s and women’s singles and doubles draws. Here are five things to watch: 1 | TORONTO TITLISTS PIVOT TO CINCY Fresh off a WTA 1000 trophy run in Toronto, Iga Swiatek now turns her attention to a title defense here in Cincinnati. The six-time Grand Slam champion, who last summer captured the Rookwood Cup via a 7-5, 6-4 over Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, is riding high after capturing her first title of 2026. Following a first-round bye, the 25-year-old will open on P&G Stadium Court against Colombian qualifier Emiliana Arango, who on Friday turned back legend Venus Williams in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. “It’s good to be back in a place where I won,” said Swiatek. “Really great memories.” Meanwhile, back-to-back Canada titlist Ben Shelton will kick off the night session on P&G Stadium Court (not before 7 p.m.) when he takes on Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria in a first-time encounter. In Montreal, Shelton became only the fourth man this century to successfully defend their title north of the border after Andy Murray (2009-10), Novak Djokovic (2011-12) and Rafael Nadal (2018-19). 2 | IT’S JOAO TIME Brazilian fans will be out in all their yellow-and-green splendor in Tony Trabert Stadium 3 when 19-year-old sensation Joao Fonseca takes the court for an intriguing second-round contest with Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp. They split their two previous encounters, with Fonseca prevailing in a Davis Cup matchup in 2024, and Van de Zandschulp returning the favor in the first round in Brussels in 2025. In June, Fonseca reached his first career major quarterfinal at Roland Garros. 3 | THE BATTLE FOR NO. 1 All eyes will be on Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina this week at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, with the No. 1 ranking at stake. Sabalenka, a titlist here two years ago, has held the top spot for 96 consecutive weeks, dating back to Oct. 21, 2024. But the Toronto finalist Rybakina has been breathing down Sabalenka’s neck all year, and could halt her reign here in Ohio. “I love having the target on my back,” said Sabalenka, who will open her Cincinnati Open campaign against Australia’s Talia Gibson on the Grandstand (not before 3 p.m.). “I like to see the young generation looking up to me and getting inspired by me. But I feel like they’re also going to be inspired even if I drop in the rankings a little bit. Hopefully, it will never happen. But as long as I focus on developing myself as a player and as a person, the ranking doesn’t really matter.” Rybakina, meanwhile, will kick off the day session on P&G Stadium Court (11 a.m.) against American Taylor Townsend. 4 | A SLEW OF AMERICANS IN ACTION 2019 winner Madison Keys, 2023 champ Coco Gauff, 2024 runner-up Frances Tiafoe, Iva Jovic, Taylor Fritz, Alex Michelsen, Sloane Stephens, Learner Tien, Taylor Townsend, Sofia Kenin, Michael Zheng and Ann Li, as well as Ben Shelton and Brandon Nakashima, who faced off in Thursday’s ATP Masters 1000 Canada final, join a rather red, white and blue slate on Sunday. See the order of player here. 5 | DOUBLES VISION The Cincinnati Open women’s doubles draw get underway on Sunday on Court 6 and 7. The matchups include: Carolina Dolehide/Emma Navarro vs. Maria Bouzkova/Linda Noskova, Asia Muhammd/Fanny Stollar vs. Erin Routliffe/Aldila Sutjadi, Su-Wei Hsieh/Jelena Ostapenko vs. Tereza Mihalikova/Olivia Nicholls, and Elise Mertens/Diana Shnaider vs. Hao-Ching Chan/Maya Joint.