Fils, Gauff Win Cincinnati Open Titles; Sinner’s US Open Withdrawal Reshuffles Men’s Seeding

Arthur Fils and Coco Gauff gained the singles titles on the Cincinnati Open on Sunday, giving each gamers important momentum heading into the US Open.

Fils, the twenty first seed, beat American Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 1-6, 6-0 for his first Masters 1000 title. Fils broke early to take a 3-0 lead within the first set, then closed it out. Tiafoe reversed the match within the second set, breaking twice to win it 6-1. Fils regained management within the third, breaking twice extra to steer 4-0 earlier than closing out the match 6-0. Tiafoe saved two match factors within the final recreation, in accordance with the Associated Press.

Fils completed with 11 aces and one double fault, towards 4 aces and 4 double faults for Tiafoe, profitable 54% of complete factors performed, in accordance with match statistics. The victory is Fils’ first Masters 1000 title and strikes him to a career-high No. 11 within the ATP rankings, up from No. 21, France 24 reported.

Fils had gained eight of his final 9 matches coming into the ultimate, together with a semifinal victory over world No. 10 Flavio Cobolli, in accordance with Tennis Majors. The AP famous the ultimate was the primary Masters 1000 last contested between two Black gamers, with Fils changing into the third Black man to win certainly one of these titles, after Ben Shelton and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

In the ladies’s last, Gauff beat Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-4 in 1 hour and 14 minutes to win her second Cincinnati title. It was the primary all-American girls’s last on the match since 1970, when Rosie Casals beat Nancy Richey, in accordance with the Associated Press.

Gauff, the 2023 US Open champion, had gained 12 consecutive units since her round-of-64 match. The Cincinnati title is her first of the 2026 season after runner-up finishes at Miami and the Italian Open. She joins Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka as the one gamers with a number of Cincinnati titles because the match moved to Mason, Ohio, in 2004.

Pegula, seeded No. 3, reached the ultimate by beating defending champion Iga Swiatek within the semifinal after additionally getting previous Amanda Anisimova. She took a medical timeout for belly discomfort throughout the Anisimova match. It was Pegula’s second Cincinnati last; she misplaced the 2024 last to Aryna Sabalenka, who additionally beat her within the 2024 US Open last.

Cincinnati Sets Up a Changed US Open Men’s Field

The Cincinnati match was the ultimate main occasion earlier than the rankings used for US Open seeding will probably be finalized, however the males’s discipline had already undergone a serious change earlier than the match ended.

Jannik Sinner, the world No. 1, withdrew from the US Open with a proper knee harm that has sidelined him since profitable Wimbledon on July 12. His absence is predicted to maneuver Alexander Zverev to the No. 1 seed, Carlos Alcaraz to No. 2, Felix Auger-Aliassime to No. 3 and Novak Djokovic to No. 4 when the match begins Aug. 30.

Alcaraz will return to the US Open, the place he gained his first Grand Slam title in 2022, after greater than 4 months out with a wrist harm sustained throughout his first-round match in Barcelona in April. The layoff value him the French Open, Wimbledon, and the Toronto and Cincinnati Masters.

The girls’s discipline doesn’t face a comparable late reshuffling. Sabalenka enters because the defending champion and No. 1 seed.

With the win at this time, Gauff takes momentum going into the ultimate Grand Slam of the season the place she is seeded No. 4. Ahead of her is Jessica Pegula at No. 3 and Elena Rybakina at No. 2.