The Cincinnati Open began its main draw on Thursday with part of its qualifying tournament still unfinished, the residue of two rain-hit days that an expanded 12-day schedule had no capacity to absorb.
Twelve of the 48 scheduled first-round qualifying matches were completed on Tuesday before a steady downpour ended play. Thirty-three matches were scheduled for Wednesday and the session was cancelled at 4 p.m. without the gates opening. A small number of qualifying matches were carried into Thursday, sharing the grounds with 28 first-round matches from the men’s and women’s main draws.
The compression. Qualifying at Cincinnati is a two-round competition for 48 men and 48 women, with 12 of each reaching the main draw. There is no rest built into the transition. A player who completes both qualifying rounds late in the week enters a Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 draw against an opponent who has been on site for days without playing a competitive point. That gap is a feature of the format in a normal year. Two washed-out days widen it.
The expansion. Cincinnati completed a substantial redevelopment of the Lindner Family Tennis Center before the 2025 edition and stretched the tournament from one week to twelve days, a change made to reduce congestion and give players more recovery between rounds. The additional days were added to the calendar. Nothing was added above the courts. The venue has 31 of them and none is covered, which means the extra length of the event increases the number of days exposed to weather rather than insulating the schedule against it.
The surrounding calendar offers nothing to borrow from either. The North American hard-court swing has a second 1000-level event finishing in Canada on Thursday, and the US Open main draw begins on August 30. Qualifying was allocated two days with no reserve day behind it.
What is still coming. Forecasts call for further rain in Mason through Friday. A tournament that has already lost most of one round to weather is carrying its backlog into a period in which more disruption is expected, and the compression moves down the draw rather than clearing. Matches postponed from the opening day land on the second, which is already full.
On court. Jack Draper, a former top-10 player who has been managing an arm injury through the summer, opened on Center Court against Martin Landaluce of Spain. The men’s field is without Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune, Alexander Bublik and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Naomi Osaka withdrew from the women’s draw on Wednesday citing fatigue, a day after losing in Canada.
Both singles finals are scheduled for August 23.
