Singles draw for the Western & Southern Open, the seventh ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the season, was made on Friday. The event began on Sunday, August 16, and will be played at the Lindner Family Tennis Center till August 23.
Novak is a top seed and has a first round BYE. He will open campaign against no.42-ranked Frenchman Benoit Paire (LL, 0-0) on Wednesday.
Nole’s potential opponents in the later stages of the tournament are:
3rd round: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA, 12), Fernando Verdasco (ESP)
Quarter-finals: Stan Wawrinka (SUI, 5), Gilles Simon (FRA, 10), Ivo Karlovic (CRO)
Semi-finals: Tomas Berdych (CZE, 6), John Isner (USA, 11), Gael Monfils (FRA, 14)
Roger Federer (SUI, 2), Andy Murray (GBR, 3), Marin Cilic (CRO, 7), Rafael Nadal (ESP, 8), Milos Raonic (CAN, 9)… are in the bottom half of the draw.
Novak has finished runner-up in Cincinnati four times, in 2008 (l. to Murray), 2009 (l. to Federer), 2011 (l. to Murray) and 2012 (l. to Federer).
In 2014, he lost to Tommy Robredo in R3, 6-7, 5-7.
The Serbian world no.1 will have a shot at tennis history this week, when he attempts to complete a sweep of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments.
Should he win the Western & Southern Open for the first time, he would become the first singles player to win all of the ATP World Tour’s nine premier events.
Photo: AP
