The latest Cincinnati Open 2026 news — a daily update from every day of play: results, upsets, and the storylines that shaped the day. Newest first.
The No. 1 seed never reached the quarterfinals. Aryna Sabalenka is out of the Cincinnati Open in the round of 16 on Day 8, beaten by WTA No. 38 Sara Bejlek, who broke in game 9 for 5-4 and served out a 1h 55m win in which the WTA No. 1 double-faulted four times to her none.
One women's quarterfinal lasted 31 minutes, second-seeded Elena Rybakina retiring at 4-1 down to send Iga Swiatek through; Jessica Pegula's took 2h 14m and a deciding tiebreak to end Amanda Anisimova's week. The men held to seeding, Flavio Cobolli coming from a set down against Tommy Paul, whose Day 7 upset of top-seeded Alexander Zverev ends there, and Arthur Fils needing 1h 04m past Thiago Agustin Tirante. Both top seeds gone leaves Pegula the highest one standing in the women's draw. Fourth-seeded Coco Gauff against No. 10 seed Marta Kostyuk is the quarterfinal with the most left on it.
Up 4-2 in the third set, top-seeded Alexander Zverev did not win another game. The ATP No. 3 is out of Cincinnati's round of 16 on Day 7, broken in game 7 and again in game 9 for 5-4 by No. 18 seed Tommy Paul, who had won a second set in which Zverev double-faulted four times and hit five winners to 12.
The No. 2 seed followed: Felix Auger-Aliassime out-hit Frances Tiafoe 28 winners to six, then lost on 37 unforced errors. Fifth-seeded Alex De Minaur fell to Arthur Fils, and ATP No. 65 Thiago Agustin Tirante needed three sets past No. 14 seed Jakub Mensik. Marta Kostyuk and Amanda Anisimova beat Mirra Andreeva and Linda Noskova, seeds 5 and 6. Ten seeds lost Wednesday, six to lower-ranked opponents, and Taylor Fritz at 6 is the men's highest left. Thursday's marquee sends Iga Swiatek against Elena Rybakina.
Three match points came and went, and the man holding them is out of the Cincinnati Open. Daniil Medvedev, the No. 4 seed, lost Day 6's round-of-32 headliner to No. 27 seed Brandon Nakashima, who saved all three and took the decider 6-1 in 2h 50m, winning 92 percent of his first-serve points in that third set to Medvedev's 46 while breaking for 3-1 and 5-1.
Elsewhere, No. 13 seed Andrey Rublev lasted 72 minutes against ATP No. 55 Nuno Borges, who closed it in straight sets. Two more seeds never played: qualifier Xiyu Wang advanced by walkover past Elina Svitolina, and Christopher O'Connell did the same past Joao Fonseca, while Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff advanced in straight sets. Eleven seeds fell, and the eighth that held Medvedev and Rublev now produces a Borges–Nakashima round of 16, neither man inside the top 30. Tommy Paul draws top-seeded Alexander Zverev next.
Day 5 at the Cincinnati Open ran to seeding, one exception at No. 9. Jiri Lehecka, ATP No. 12, held nine of 13 service games to Arthur Fils's 14 of 15 and piled up 50 unforced errors, losing in 1h 53m after saving two match points in the second-set tiebreak. The 21st seed came in level at 2-2 on record.
Elsewhere, top-seeded Alexander Zverev lost serve once in 2h 08m and two tiebreaks against Terence Atmane. Eight more seeds went out to higher seeds, Iga Swiatek dropping the opener to Maria Sakkari before taking 12 of the last 14 games, while Sorana Cirstea advanced when Anna Kalinskaya retired trailing 5-0 in the third. Diane Parry ended Lois Boisson's wild-card run at WTA No. 299 in 2h 40m, the day's longest. Nine seeds are gone, only Lehecka to a lower-ranked opponent, and his section sends Fils into Alex De Minaur next.
The No. 8 seed manufactured 12 break points on Cincinnati's first Sunday and converted one. Ben Shelton is out in the round of 64 to qualifier Jaime Faria, who closed it 6-4, 6-4 from ATP No. 79 while saving 11 of 12 break points and out-hitting the ATP No. 10 26 winners to 14. Casper Ruud's day ended earlier: the No. 11 seed retired at 7-5, 1-2, sending qualifier Christopher O'Connell through.
Two courts over, wild card Sloane Stephens, at WTA No. 286, broke five times against the No. 24 seed, and Anastasia Potapova went out 6-2, 6-4 with nine double faults. Eleven seeds fell in all, Ugo Humbert and Barbora Krejcikova among them. The top of both draws is intact: Aryna Sabalenka, Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced, while defending champion Iga Swiatek gave up three games in 71 minutes, leaving Shelton's section to the qualifiers.
Cincinnati's first Saturday cost the men's draw its No. 3 seed in the second round. Games went 14-14 and 13 of 15 break points were saved, yet Novak Djokovic was out-hit 40 winners to 25 and lost 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in 2h 37m to Thiago Agustin Tirante, who served 13 aces and won 88 percent of his first-serve points. The Argentine, title-less on tour, now owns the biggest win on his record by opponent rank, past No. 9 Ben Shelton in April.
Four more men's seeds went out behind him, Luciano Darderi in 71 minutes to wild card Rinky Hijikata. On the women's side Belinda Bencic retired trailing 6-3 after 46 minutes, advancing WTA No. 299 wild card Lois Boisson; Elise Mertens and Jelena Ostapenko lost as well, eight seeds in all. The top of the WTA draw held firmer, with Jessica Pegula, Linda Noskova and Amanda Anisimova all through in straight sets.
The wild cards did the collapsing. At WTA No. 667, Venus Williams held four of her eight service games and won 41 percent of first-serve points, and qualifier Emiliana Arango closed it 6-2, 6-2 in 65 minutes. Two veteran wild cards led and lost: Grigor Dimitrov took the opener 6-1 before falling in three to Sebastian Baez, while Marin Cilic won the first set 6-3 off Daniel Merida Aguilar and two games thereafter.
Elsewhere, Karen Khachanov, the day's highest-ranked man at ATP No. 39, went out 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(2) to No. 95 Aleksandar Kovacevic, who broke in game 4 for 3-1 and game 9 for 6-3 in the second, then missed all six break points in the third and won the tiebreak anyway. Nine qualifiers advanced, Michael Zheng past No. 61 Fabian Marozsan among them. Matteo Berrettini, at ATP No. 40, is the highest-ranked man left from the day's slate.
The ranking sheet held up poorly on opening day. A wild card at WTA No. 299 who had lost five straight matches coming in, Lois Boisson won 6-3, 6-2 in 82 minutes against No. 58 Ashlyn Krueger, holding all nine of her service games while the higher-ranked Krueger held five of eight and served seven double faults.
Two bigger names exited on wild cards of their own: Gael Monfils, now ATP No. 347, lost in 3 hours, 52 minutes to Rinky Hijikata, while Jack Draper, at No. 143, fell 6-3, 7-5 to Martin Landaluce. Five other matches went the lower-ranked player's way, Taylor Townsend's three-set win over No. 60 Camila Osorio among them, and Katie Boulter needed 4 hours, 5 minutes to get past Katie Volynets. Seven women ranked inside the top 70 are already out of a hard-court Masters 1000 that runs through August 24.