The Serb begins his quest for a first Cincinnati title in a tricky quarter of the draw. Novak Djokovic has been drawn into Rafael Nadal’s quarter at next week’s Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati. The top-seeded Nadal is a 2013 champion at Cincinnati, while Djokovic is a five-time runner-up at Cincinnati that has yet to win the title.

See the full men’s singles draw here:


Djokovic opens with American Steve Johnson in the first round and could face Marco Cecchinato of Italy in what would be a rematch of this year’s epic Roland Garros quarterfinal in the second.

Nadal could face Canada’s Milos Raonic after a first-round bye.

Tennis Express

Seven-time champion Roger Federer, making his first appearance on the hardcourts this summer, will face either Peter Gojowczyk or Joao Sousa after his first round bye. Meanwhile, Federer has been hard at work in Ohio.


There are several enticing first-rounders at Cincinnati. Here’s six that we’ll be watching closely:

Denis Shapovalov v Frances Tiafoe
Stefanos Tsitsipas v David Goffin
Andrey Rublev v Kei Nishikori
Stan Wawrinka v Diego Schwartzman
Lucas Pouille v Andy Murray
John Isner v Sam Querrey.

If the seeds hold, the quarterfinals shape up as follows:

[1] Nadal v [5] Dimitrov
[3] Zverev v [7] Cilic
[6] Anderson v [4] Del Potro
[2] Federer v [8] Thiem

Main draw play begins on Sunday at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

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