Colombian Emilia Arango defeated Venus Williams in the opening round of the Cincinnati Masters, extending the seven-time Grand Slam champion’s losing streak to 14 matches dating to July of last year. The match lasted 66 minutes, with Arango prevailing 6-2, 6-2. Williams, now 46 years old and ranked 615th in the world, competed on a wild card invitation at an event where she reached the semi-finals a dozen years ago. The loss marked her 11th defeat of the season, with all of her 2026 matches played using complimentary entries from organizers.
The Cincinnati Masters served as a major warm-up tournament ahead of the 30 August US Open, with the men’s and women’s draws each featuring 64 seeds set to begin competition from Saturday. Among the notable early results, Czech player Sara Bejlek defeated 2016 champion Karolina Pliskova with a dominant 6-0, 6-2 performance in the first round.
Former Cincinnati champion Grigor Dimitrov exited the tournament in the opening round despite holding a 4-1 advantage in the third set against Argentine Sebastian Baez. Dimitrov, 35 years old and ranked 138th while playing on a wild card, lost 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 after surrendering the final five games of the match. He had been seeking his first Cincinnati title in five years. Baez advanced to face American Learner Tien, who reached the semi-finals at this week’s Montreal Masters.
Greek player Stefanos Tsitsipas overcame French opponent Valentin Royer 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 in a closely contested first-round match lasting two hours. Tsitsipas, once ranked world number three and now standing 49th after an extended period of diminished form, had to overcome multiple obstacles late in the contest. He squandered two match points while serving for victory at 5-2 in the second set before ultimately prevailing on his sixth match point. Tsitsipas earned a subsequent matchup with second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Other first-round winners included Hubert Hurkacz, a 2023 semi-finalist who defeated Sho Shimabukuro 6-2, 6-4, and Italian Matteo Berrettini, who defeated Thomas Droguet 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in only his second match following a Wimbledon-related injury layoff.
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