Kazakhstan's second-ranked tennis player Yulia Putintseva (81) lost to Russian Liudmila Samsonova (55) in the first match of the WTA-1000 tournament in the USA – 6:7 (5:7), 7:5, 5:7. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
Natives of Moscow and Olenegorsk, in the Murmansk region, had met on court only once before. Two years ago, the Kazakhstani won in Miami – 6:1, 4:6, 6:3. This time, the Russian tennis player took revenge.
In the first set, the opponents confidently held their serves, and in the tie-break luck smiled on Samsonova – 7:5. In the second set, Putintseva made two breaks, but the opponent responded. The third time Liudmila failed – 5:7.
The exchange of breaks continued in the deciding set. At 5:6, Putintseva on her serve failed to earn a tie-break. The equal match lasted 3 hours and 9 minutes – 6:7 (5:7), 7:5, 5:7. The score of aces – 3:6, double faults – 1:10, total winners – 112:109. Putintseva won more points, but still lost.
Kazakhstani tennis is represented in Cincinnati by Elena Rybakina (2) and Anna Danilina (6). Rybakina, seeded second, will play in the second round against American Taylor Townsend (110). Danilina, who also received the second starting number with Serbian Aleksandra Krunic (5), will compete at the start with the American-Danish duo Ann Li (141)/Clara Tauson (76).
In the men's draw, no representatives of Kazakhstan remained in Cincinnati. Alexander Bublik (11) decided to skip the tournament, and Alexander Shevchenko (89) lost twice. In the first round of qualifying, the native of Rostov defeated Spaniard Pablo Llamas Ruiz (130) – 6:3, 6:4. And in the second, he lost to Australian Christopher O'Connell (129) – 4:6, 1:6. Nevertheless, Alexander the Second continued as a lucky loser. And in the first round, he failed to cope with Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp (69) – 4:6, 4:6.
The current WTA-1000 Cincinnati Open tournament is the 80th in a row. The oldest tournament in the USA has never changed its location. The competitions are held on outdoor hard courts in Mason, a suburb of Cincinnati (Ohio).
The prize fund of the men's Cincinnati Open-2026 is $9.41 million, the women's – $7.43 million.
Over the years, the tournament was won by Americans Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi. Also Swedes Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg, Czech Ivan Lendl, German Boris Becker, Swiss Roger Federer, Spaniard Rafael Nadal, Serbian Novak Djokovic. The list of winners of the women's tournament is also impressive. Among them are Americans Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams, Belgian Kim Clijsters, Russian Maria Sharapova and others.
The current champion of Cincinnati is Iga Swiatek (5), who the day before won the final of the tournament in Toronto against Rybakina. In the semifinal of Cincinnati Open-2025, the Polish tennis player also defeated Elena the Beautiful – 7:5, 6:3. And in the final, she beat Italian Jasmine Paolini – 7:5, 6:4.