Osaka and Mboko withdraw from Cincinnati

The two finalists from Montreal, Naomi Osaka and Victoria Mboko, have withdrawn from the Cincinnati tournament (August 7 to 18).

After playing the final of the Canadian Masters 1000 on Thursday night into Friday, where the 18-year-old local won (6-7, 6-4, 7-6), both players have decided not to go to Ohio to compete in the last major tournament before the US Open.

Cincinnati started the same day as their final, and even though Montreal's director stated that a private jet was available for the players to travel to American soil, the Japanese and the Canadian preferred to skip this new two-week tournament.

Osaka had already withdrawn last year and before that had lost in the first round to Zhang in 2022. Mboko, on the other hand, had not yet played in the American tournament.

In their place, four lucky losers will enter the main draw and two new matches will take place: Cristina Bucsa against Yue Yuan and Iva Jovic versus Solana Sierra.