CINCINNATI: WTA Montreal tournament champion Victoria Mboko and beaten finalist Naomi Osaka officially withdrew on Friday from the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open in decisions openly telegraphed after their Thursday night final in Canada.
Mboko, the 18-year-old Canadian who electrified Montreal with her run to a first WTA title, cited the wrist injury she suffered in the semi-finals while four-time Grand Slam winner Osaka blamed a “schedule change” for her absence.
Cincinnati tournament officials said the pair had received byes into the second round due to their performances at the previous event.
The withdrawals vaulted four lucky losers from qualifying into the first round of the main draw of the last major event prior to the August 25 start of the US Open.
After defeating Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 to win the Montreal title, Mboko revealed that the swelling in her wrist had been bad enough on Thursday morning to prompt her to have an MRI exam before the evening final.
“I woke up this morning, and I actually had my wrist a little bit swollen from (Wednesday’s) fall,” she said.
“We quickly went to the hospital for an MRI and an X-ray before I came to the courts to practice.”
Mboko said she and her team eventually “got the green light that nothing too serious was going on in the wrist.”
But she said Thursday night that she expected to give Cincinnati a miss.
“I’m not planning on playing Cincinnati at the moment. I just want to take care of my wrist a little bit right now,” she said. “It’s just very close and sudden for me to go there and play again (in), like, two days.
“I think I’m just going to sit out on that one and prepare for the upcoming tournaments.”
Osaka was less definite, but said she was “teeter-tottering”.
“It’s going to be interesting to see, yeah, what my next match is and how I’m going to play,” the former world number one said.
Newly minted Toronto Masters champion Ben Shelton will open his account at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open against Camilo Ugo Carabelli after the Argentine defeated Kei Nishikori 7-5, 6-3 on Friday.
World number seven Shelton arrived in the American Midwest on a private jet after winning his first Masters 1000 title in Toronto on Thursday night and will make his start after a first-round bye in the final major tune-up before the US Open begins on August 25.
The 47th-ranked Ugo Carabelli dominated 2014 US Open finalist Nishikori as the former top Asian in tennis succumbed to 42 unforced errors and lost serve five times.
The Japanese player was competing for the first time since retiring injured at Geneva in mid-May.
Ugo Carabelli has played his best on clay, reaching four semi-finals on the dirt this season.
As Cincinnati fifth seed and with confidence still strong, the 22-year-old Shelton could be a formidable contender for a pre-Open title double.
Back-to-back events running 12 days each might be a fitness wild card as the bloated schedules of the ATP-WTA tournaments become commonplace.
Fellow top 10 players including Novak Djokovic—who is skipping Cincinnati—Alex de Minaur and world number one Jannik Sinner have all come out in favor of the old school one-week tournament format.
Borna Coric, who was ranked 152nd when he won the title in 2022, fell at the first hurdle, a 6-3, 7-5 victim of American qualifier Emilio Nava.
Coric has lost all six of his ATP-level matches in 2025, winning his last in December at the United Cup in Australia.
In WTA action, Caroline Garcia, the former top 10 player from France who has plans to retire this year, played for the first time since Roland Garros in May and beat Briton Sonay Kartal 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
After needing more than two hours to prevail in a roller-coaster match, Garcia admitted that as she battled in the sweltering heat she had moments when she wondered why.
French compatriot Leolia Jeanjean also advanced with 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 win over Yulia Starodubtseva.
American Taylor Townsend handed compatriot Danielle Collins her fourth first-round loss here in five appearances, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).
