{"id":74508,"date":"2026-08-14T20:57:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T20:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/74508\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T20:57:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T20:57:25","slug":"cincinnati-open-2026-gauff-sabalenka-lead-wta-draw-after-osaka-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/74508\/","title":{"rendered":"Cincinnati Open 2026: Gauff, Sabalenka Lead WTA Draw After Osaka Exit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 2026 Cincinnati Open matchups shifted Wednesday, as Japanese tennis favorite Naomi Osaka pulled out of the WTA 1000 event&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wtatennis.com\/news\/4557737\/cincinnati-open-draw-sabalenka-gauff-andreeva-svitolina-osaka-lead-top-half\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.wtatennis.com\/news\/4557737\/cincinnati-open-draw-sabalenka-gauff-andreeva-svitolina-osaka-lead-top-half\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">main draw<\/a>, citing fatigue after her <a href=\"https:\/\/justwomenssports.com\/reads\/elena-rybakina-beats-naomi-osaka-2026-canadian-open-toronto-wta-scores\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/justwomenssports.com\/reads\/elena-rybakina-beats-naomi-osaka-2026-canadian-open-toronto-wta-scores\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Canadian Open run<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her withdrawal thins one of the tournament&#8217;s marquee quarters, where <a href=\"https:\/\/justwomenssports.com\/reads\/aryna-sabalenka-scores-100-weeks-world-no-1-wta-rankings\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/justwomenssports.com\/reads\/aryna-sabalenka-scores-100-weeks-world-no-1-wta-rankings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> had been on a potential final-eight collision course with Osaka.<\/p>\n<p>With Naomi Osaka Out, Coco Gauff &amp; Aryna Sabalenka Top Cincinnati Draw<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sabalenka still anchors a section featuring No. 8 seed <a href=\"https:\/\/justwomenssports.com\/reads\/elina-svitolina-canadian-open-2026-semifinals\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/justwomenssports.com\/reads\/elina-svitolina-canadian-open-2026-semifinals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Elina Svitolina<\/a> and 2019 champion Madison Keys. One quarter over, Coco Gauff heads a group that includes recent <a href=\"https:\/\/justwomenssports.com\/reads\/french-open-2026-winner-mirra-andreeva-wta-tour-grand-slam-results\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/justwomenssports.com\/reads\/french-open-2026-winner-mirra-andreeva-wta-tour-grand-slam-results\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">French Open winner Mirra Andreeva<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With Osaka out, attention swings to Gauff, who could face No. 10 seed <a href=\"https:\/\/justwomenssports.com\/reads\/french-open-2026-iga-swiatek-magda-linette-marta-kostyuk-round-of-16-results\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"35126\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Marta Kostyuk<\/a> in a projected quarterfinal. The two last met in Doha in February 2025, and Gauff holds a 3-2 head-to-head edge. Sabalenka&#8217;s path, meanwhile, opens up in Osaka&#8217;s absence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, fans can expect plenty of first-round drama at this year&#8217;s tournament. A Yulia Putintseva vs Liudmila Samsonova match stands out, since the winner will face Gauff, and Putintseva stunned Gauff at the 2024 Cincinnati Open. Elsewhere, Czech veterans Sara Bejlek and <a href=\"https:\/\/justwomenssports.com\/reads\/karolina-pliskova-punches-ticket-to-wimbledon-final\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"3183\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">2016 champion Karolina Pliskova<\/a> are set to collide.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Main-draw play begins Thursday, August 13th on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennischannel.com\/en-us\/page\/home\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.tennischannel.com\/en-us\/page\/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Tennis Channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 Cincinnati Open matchups shifted Wednesday, as Japanese tennis favorite Naomi Osaka pulled out of the WTA&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[48170,48171,8065,8,4469,85,11046],"class_list":["post-74508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-osaka","tag-2026-cincinnati-open","tag-2026-wta-tour","tag-coco-gauff","tag-japan","tag-naomi-osaka","tag-osaka","tag-wta-1000"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}