Combined – Cincinnati (Masters 1000 & Premier 5)

Official Site: Here
Draws: Men & Women
Top Men Seeds: Nole, Rafa, Fed, Muzz, Ferrer, Monf, Fish, T-Berd
Top Women Seeds: Caro, Vera, Vika, Masha, Nails, Kvitova, Schiavone, Bartoli

Another week, another jam packed ATP draw as the top men pack it up and move to Cincinnati. Once again, all eyes are on He Who Cannot Lose, Mr. Djokovic, as he continues to improve on an already insanely great season.

The first half would set up some familiar match-ups, Djokovic/Monfils and Federer/Berdych in the quarterfinals. Federer will have to take out Delpo in the second round, however. Berdych has Pico and Nico. Djokovic is looking good to go once again, as he should be able to out last a quarter also featuring Isner, Stan, Feli and Ernie. Yup, safe to pencil him in for the final once again.

The bottom half has some immediately interesting match-ups. If everything holds up, quarters are Ferrer/Murray and Nadal/Fish. Murray has Nalbandian and then possibly Tsonga or Cilic just to possibly Ferrer, which is not a kind draw. Things are similar for Fish, who could have Davydenko and Gasquet just for the right to take on Nadal in the quarterfinals. That being said, Fish is playing the greatest tennis of his life, is extremely motivated, and has had success in Cincinnati before. Keep an eye on him.

Things look pretty similar for the WTA side of things. Big names and earlier match-ups. The top half would line up Wozniacki/Kvitova and Azarenka/Schiavone for the quarters, but there’s a lot in the way of that happening. In particular, doubles partners Ivanovic and Petkovic who may take on Wozniacki and Kvitova respectfully. Both of the latter players looked rusty and out of sorts in Toronto, and might be in for more than they bargained for early on in Cincinnati.

The bottom half is absolutely loaded, including the much talked about Williams/Stosur second round re-match of the Toronto final. Nails and Masha lurk around in that quarter. Your guess is as good as mine.
For the final quarter, we have Bartoli/PavsFlavs and Bepa/JJ if everything holds up. Dani is also hanging around, and is likely going to play Pavs Flavs in a tasty second round match-up.

All in all, things aren’t too ridiculously different compared to Toronto and Montreal. Very solid fields that are pretty evenly spread out but are far from straight forward. I’m looking forward to another great week of tennis.

Photo: Cincy Images