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.

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):

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)

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)

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.