2012 Las Vegas singles finalist Shelby Rogers, former U.S. Open Girls’ Junior champ Samantha Crawford, and USTA wild card Lauren Albanese each won straight-set matches.
Venus Williams got her Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open campaign off to the perfect start with a 6-1 7-6(4) victory over Agnieszka Radwanska in the evening session.
Two time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka opened her account at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open with a 62 76(4) win over American qualifier Lauren Davis on Sunday.
Williams is looking to be the first woman to successfully defend her title in Cincinnati in the Open Era. She is also the first player in the Open Era to reach three consecutive finals. She has a 20-4 lifetime record in Cincinnati.
The trend of strong attendance continued Friday as more than 25,000 fans were in attendance at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. Twelve of the 13 sessions this year have set an attendance record for the respective sessions.
Two more attendance records were set on Thursday. A new single-day record of 26,338 people were in attendance, surpassing the mark that had been set on Tuesday (25.898).
A terrific Thursday is on tap at the Western & Southern Open, with all Round of 16 singles matches scheduled. Center Court will highlight the action with both of the world's No. 1 players - Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic - playing during the day session.
We haven't seen much of Simona Halep lately, but maybe that's good; she looks as if she's rejuvenated. When this ended, she was slugging it out with Petra Kvitova and Caroline Wozniacki for the #3 ranking, but that's over now. Jelena Jankovic's loss means that she will fall from #23 to no better than #25.
Unlike most Slams, Wimbledon begins doubles action on the first day. But we were not able to write our doubles previews until after the new rankings came out.
Tennis Canada announced on Wednesday that Eugenie Bouchard is the winner of the 2018 Excellence Awards in the Female Player of the Year and Singles Player of the Year categories.
Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia hits a forehand to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia during her second round match at the Nature Valley International tennis tournament in Eastbourne, Great Britain, on Tuesday, June 26, 2018.
