Week in Preview: Western & Southern Open all set to feature half a dozen high-profile returnees 

Daniil Medvedev claims Toronto before heading to Cincinnati.

We’ve heard a lot over the past two weeks about all the players who are missing from the summer hard-court Masters 1000 events. And there are plenty of marquee absentees in Cincinnati: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem, and Serena Williams, among them. But the tournament will also feature half a dozen high-profile returnees: On the women’s side they include the world No. 1 and 2, Ash Barty and Naomi Osaka; the last two winners at Roland Garros, Iga Swiatek and Barbora Krejcikova; and Australian Open finalist Jen Brady. On the men’s side, Olympic gold medalist Alexander Zverev, Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini, and two-time Cincy champ Andy Murray will be making North American summer debuts.

More important, the event will be back at its old stomping grounds in Ohio, and with fans in the seats. Here’s a look at what they might see over the next week.

Western & Southern Open (WTA)

Cincinnati

$2,114,989; WTA 1000

Hard court

Draw is here

Men and women get equal billing in Cincy, but not equal prize money. The WTA purse is a little over $2 million, while the men’s has risen to $5.4 million. Those numbers seem especially hard to justify in a year when the biggest draws on the men’s side won’t be in action.

As I noted above, Cincy’s women’s draw will be significantly stronger than it was in Montreal last week. That starts at the top, where Barty will make her first appearance in singles since flaming out early at the Olympics. That first-round shocker aside, she’s still coming off a Wimbledon title—that has to give you a confidence boost as you get ready for the next major, right? Barty has a bunch of qualifiers in her section of the draw, but she could face Victoria Azarenka in her second match, and, if the seeds hold, either Krejcikova or Garbiñe Muguruza in the quarterfinals.

At the other end of the draw is Osaka. And Coco Gauff. These two young stars, who have split a couple of matches at the Grand Slams, could meet in the second round. Also in this quarter: Bianca Andreescu, Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic, French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Danielle Collins, who has won two tournaments this summer. Can Osaka turn a sub-par six months, results-wise—she withdrew from the French, skipped Wimbledon, and lost early at the Olympics—around in one tournament, before she has to defend her US Open title? Last year she began her strong season-ending run by making the final at the Flushing Meadows version of the Western & Southern Open.

As for Swiatek and Brady, they’re in the same quarter, one headed up by No. 4 seed Elina Svitolina. Brady will start against Ekaterina Alexandrova; Swiatek will play either Ons Jabeur or Anett Kontaveit.

First-round matches to watch:

Krejcikova vs. Daria Kasatkina

Maria Sakkari vs. Angelique Kerber

Petra Kvitova vs. Madison Keys

Karolina Muchova vs. Johanna Konta

Collins vs. Shelby Rogers

Bencic vs. Marketa Vondrousova (a rematch of the Olympic gold medal match)

Jabeur vs. Kontaveit

Western & Southern Open (ATP)

Cincinnati

$5,404,435; Masters 1000

Hard court

Draw is here

“The goal is to know where your game is,” Daniil Medvedev said of what the top players want to accomplish in the two Masters events before the US Open. Medvedev’s title run in Toronto should be enough to let him know that his game is in a very good place. Will he feel the need to prove it again in Cincinnati, which he won in 2019? Medvedev said he’ll travel to Cincy and see how his body feels, but he didn’t make any promises that he would play. If he does, he’ll come in as the top seed, and start against one of two U.S. wild cards, Brandon Nakashima or Mackenize McDonald.

For the rest of the field, there’s still plenty to prove, to themselves and their opponents, before the Open starts. No. 4 seed Andrey Rublev, No. 6 seed Denis Shapovalov, and No. 11 seed Jannik Sinner have been drawn into the second quarter. Each has had some good results this season, each likes hard courts and could potentially make a deep run at the Open, and each will want to improve on an early loss in Toronto.

If anything, Alexander Zverev, who headlines the third quarter, is an even bigger threat to win his first major title in New York. He was a few points from the title last year, and he’s coming off an Olympic gold-medal run that included a win over Novak Djokovic. Zverev will make his first appearance since Tokyo, and will start against either Lloyd Harris or Yoshihito Nishioka. Also in this section: Casper Ruud and Toronto finalist Reilly Opelka.

Berrettini and Tsitsipas head up the bottom quarter, and each has some work to do. Berrettini hasn’t played since his loss in the Wimbledon final, due to a thigh injury. And while Tsitsipas reached the semis in Toronto, he had to be disappointed with his loss to Opelka there. Tsitsipas could have an interesting opener, against Sebastian Korda, if Korda gets past Laslo Djere in the first round. Berrettini will start against either Taylor Fritz or Albert Ramos-Viñolas. Also in this section: Felix Auger Aliassime and Karen Khachanov.

First-round matches to watch:

McDonald vs. Nakashima

Hubert Hurkacz vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina

Andy Murray vs. Richard Gasquet

Gael Monfils vs. Dusan Lajovic

Shapovalov vs. Benoit Paire

Frances Tiafoe vs. Ugo Humbert

Auger Aliassime vs. Marton Fucsovics

Lorenzo Sonego vs. Carlos Alcaraz