The tennis world will be watching with excitement when the best of the best in women’s tennis gather for the 2021 edition of the WTA Cincinnati Open from August 14 to August 22.
The Premier 5 tournament is the oldest tennis competition in the US that is still played in the city where it started. And considering that the first women’s event in Cincinnati took place in 1899, that’s more than 120 years of top-tier tennis for US fans.
This year’s tournament looks to be one of the most exciting in recent memory. Tennis fans can look forward to seeing their favourite players battle it out at the hard courts of the Lindner Family Tennis Centre in Cincinnati once again. Let’s look at the most likely candidates to win the coveted event this year.
Can Victoria Azarenka Win the Tournament Again?
Victoria Azarenka will be the main favourite to win the 2021 Cincinnati Open. She won the 2020 edition of the tournament after Naomi Osaka, her opponent in the final, withdrew due to a hamstring injury.
That was Azarenka’s first WTA singles title in four years, and it is fair to say that she has fond memories from Cincinnati.
After her Cincinnati title, Azarenka continued to play in fine form. She even managed to get to the final of the US Open. That was her first Grand Slam final since 2013, but unfortunately, she lost. Despite being a set and a break ahead, the Belarusian failed to win and was defeated by her Cincinnati nemesis Naomi Osaka.
That defeat was one of only six defeats the Cincinnati Open champion had in 2020. Looking at Victoria Azarenka scores for 2020 and 2021, it is evident that the Belarusian is in fine form coming into the WTA Cincinnati Open 2021, despite that US Open final defeat. Therefore, backing her to win in Ohio might turn out to be a smart move.
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Will Naomi Osaka Win Her First WTA Cincinnati Open?
Naomi Osaka is another top candidate to win the Premier 5 WTA tournament. The Japanese superstar is regularly ranked in the Top 5 WTA players and has won four Grand Slam titles.
However, one title that she hasn’t won is the Cincinnati Open trophy. Osaka had excellent WTA Cincinnati results in 2020 and defeated four players ranked in the Top 20s on her road to the final. She might have even won the tournament if she didn’t suffer an unlucky injury and had to default to the match, making Victoria Azarenka the champion in the process.
That means that the Japanese tennis star will be raring to go once the WTA Cincinnati Open 2021 tournament starts. Backing her to triumph is one of the safest bets you can make on the 2021 WTA Cincinnati Open.
Can Ashleigh Barty Win WTA Cincinnati 2021?
Ashleigh Barty is Australia’s brightest female tennis star and one of the world’s best. She is only the second Australian to have been ranked as No. 1, so, understandably, the whole nation is rooting for her when she plays.
The Queenslander won the French Open in 2019, and that is her best result to date. She has 11 titles next to her name, but as is the case with Naomi Osaka, the Cincinnati Open trophy is not in her cabinet yet.
Barty reached the semi-finals in the 2019 Cincinnati Open event but was defeated by Svetlana Kuznetsova. The Australian hasn’t had the best WTA Cincinnati results recently, so she will be hoping that she can turn things around at the 2021 edition of the event. That is very likely to happen as Barty is one of the most in-form tennis players and is quite good on hard surfaces.
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