The second WTA 1000 event of the North American hard-court season will take place in Cincinnati, and there will be some high-profile absentees.<\/p>\n
This will be the 97th edition of the women\u2019s tournament in Mason, Ohio, which is staged at the\u00a0Lindner Family Tennis Centre.<\/p>\n
The 2025 Cincinnati Open will be a\u00a012-day event held from August 7-18, having been held over a week in previous editions.<\/p>\n
World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> is the reigning champion in Cincinnati and she will play for the first time since her Wimbledon semi-final exit, having skipped the Canadian Open.<\/p>\n How many players will feature in the main draw of the 2025 Cincinnati Open?<\/p>\n With the new 12-day format, the singles main draw for the Cincinnati Open has increased from 56 players to 96 players for both the women\u2019s and men\u2019s tournaments.<\/p>\n Of the 96 players in the WTA<\/a> draw, there will be 72 direct entrants, 16 qualifiers and eight wildcards.<\/p>\n Have any big-name players withdrawn?<\/p>\n Three top 10 players have pulled out of Cincinnati due to injuries: Mirra Andreeva, Qinwen Zheng and Paula Badosa.<\/p>\n Lois Boisson, Ons Jabeur, Alex Eala and Petra Kvitova are the other women who have withdrawn.<\/p>\n Which players have received wildcards?<\/p>\n Two of the six women\u2019s wildcard recipients have been announced, and they are both American: Caty McNally and Venus Williams.<\/p>\n Williams, a 45-year-old who is a seven-time major singles champion and former world No 1, won her first match in over a year in Washington last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n 2025 WTA Cincinnati Open: When is the draw? Prize money and points on offer<\/a><\/p>\n 5 youngest women to beat No 1 seed at a WTA 1000 event: Victoria Mboko joins Coco Gauff, Mirra Andreeva<\/a><\/p>\n Who are the former champions in the main draw?<\/p>\n Three former Cincinnati champions will compete: Sabalenka (2024), Coco Gauff (2023) and Madison Keys (2019).<\/p>\n Have any players used a special ranking to enter?<\/p>\n Players who have been unable to compete in any tournaments due to injury or pregnancy for a minimum of six months are eligible to use the WTA protected ranking system.<\/p>\n The rule allows players to use the ranking they held at the time of their absence\u00a0to enter eight tournaments, or 12 if they missed more than a year.<\/p>\n Bianca Andreescu,\u00a0Marketa Vondrousova,\u00a0Sorana Cirstea,\u00a0Anastasija Sevastova,\u00a0Lin Zhu and\u00a0Wang Yafan have all entered Cincinnati using a special ranking.<\/p>\n Why Emma Raducanu will be seeded<\/p>\n Emma Raducanu<\/a> has dropped to 38th in the Live WTA Rankings, but she is set to be seeded 30th at the Cincinnati Open.<\/p>\n