With the Cincinnati Open now in full swing, and all the top players having arrived ready to compete, some of the sport’s biggest-name pundits have begun making their predictions.
And whilst there are some overwhelming favourites, the shock results that came out of the Canadian Open have proven that, with a little bit of form, there are so many players capable of making a run to the title.
Ben Shelton and Victoria Mboko were both good value for the first Masters 1000 titles of their young careers, with the latter having opted to withdraw from the Cincinnati Open alongside her fellow finalist Naomi Osaka.
It will be interesting to see how the 12-day condensed event impacts the two men’s finalists, with Coco Gauff expressing her thoughts on the new format earlier this week.
Alas, speaking on their Nothing Major podcast, Sam Querrey and John Isner were keen to move on from that event, instead focusing on who they think will win the Cincinnati Open.
Sam Querrey and John Isner make Cincinnati Open prediction
Honing in on the men’s side, there are a handful of names who are expected to reach the latter stages of the event.
Naturally, some of the top seeds like Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz feel almost guaranteed to go deep.
That is, despite the Spaniard losing early here last year, in an affair that Alcaraz described as his worst match ever.
Fortunately for him, Gael Monfils is not present in the draw to torment him again, but it will be interesting to see how he adapts to these conditions in what will be his first hard-court event since the Wimbledon final.
It is perhaps this unpredictability on this surface which has provoked both Querrey and Isner to agree on Sinner being the outright favourite for the title, who won it with relative ease in 2024 before then snatching the US Open crown too.
Jannik Sinner’s record on hard courts
Sinner has been, by some distance, the world’s best male hard-court player for the past year and a half now.
It is no greater exemplified than through his two Australian Open titles and his sole US Open triumph. The expectation is that he will be the heavy favourite to add to the latter next month too.
And with good reason, given how the statistics back up his ruthless dominance on this surface.
In 2024, he won seven of his eight tour-level titles on hard courts, with a 94.6% win record as the year concluded. He lost just three matches on the surface.
This year, with the three-month suspension, he has only been able to play in Melbourne. He retained his crown at a canter.
