Kazakhstan's second-ranked player Yulia Putintseva (81) lost a grueling three-hour match to Russian Liudmila Samsonova (55) in the first round of the WTA-1000 tournament in Cincinnati, 6:7 (5:7), 7:5, 5:7, reports infohub.kz.
The pair had met only once before, two years ago in Miami, where the Kazakhstani won (6:1, 4:6, 6:3). This time, the Russian took revenge.
In the first set, both players held serve confidently, but in the tie-break luck was on Samsonova's side, 7-5. In the second set, Putintseva broke twice, but her opponent each time responded in kind. The third break did not go the Russian's way, 5-7.
In the deciding set, the exchange of breaks continued. At 5-6, Putintseva could not force a tie-break on her serve. The match lasted 3 hours and 9 minutes. Statistics: aces 3-6, double faults 1-10, winners 112-109. Putintseva won more points but lost.
Kazakhstan is also represented in Cincinnati by Elena Rybakina (2) and Anna Danilina (6). Rybakina, seeded second, will face American Taylor Townsend (110) in the second round. Danilina, seeded second in doubles with Serbian Aleksandra Krunic (5), will start against the American-Danish duo of Ann Li (141) and Clara Tauson (76).
In the men's draw, no Kazakhstani players remain. Alexander Bublik (11) skipped the tournament, while Alexander Shevchenko (89) lost twice: in the first round of qualifying he defeated Spaniard Pablo Llamas Ruiz (130) 6-3, 6-4, but in the second he lost to Australian Christopher O'Connell (129) 4-6, 1-6. Nevertheless, Shevchenko continued as a lucky loser, but in the first round he could not handle Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp (69), losing 4-6, 4-6.
The current WTA-1000 Cincinnati Open is the 80th edition. The oldest tournament in the United States has never changed its venue. The competition is held on outdoor hard courts in Mason, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio.
The prize money for the men's Cincinnati Open-2026 is $9.41 million, and for the women's, $7.43 million.
Over the years, the tournament has been won by Americans Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, as well as Swedes Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg, Czech Ivan Lendl, German Boris Becker, Swiss Roger Federer, Spaniard Rafael Nadal, and Serbian Novak Djokovic. The list of women's champions is also impressive: Americans Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams, Belgian Kim Clijsters, Russian Maria Sharapova, and others.
The defending champion in Cincinnati is Iga Swiatek (5), who recently defeated Rybakina in the final in Toronto. In the semifinals of Cincinnati Open-2025, the Polish player also beat Elena Rybakina 7-5, 6-3, and in the final defeated Italian Jasmine Paolini 7-5, 6-4.