PREVIEW NOTES: WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN CINCINNATI, OH, USA | AUGUST 12 - 18, 2019 | USD $2,944,486

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WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN – QUICK FACTS

Main draw dates: Monday, August 12 - Sunday, August 18, 2019 Singles Final: Sunday, August 18, 2pm Doubles Final: Saturday, August 17, following 6pm match Venue: Lindner Family Tennis Center Status: WTA Premier 5 event Draw sizes: 56 singles / 28 doubles teams / 32 singles qualifying Surface: Hard (outdoors) Tennis Ball: Penn Championship Regular Duty 2018 Singles Final: (NED) d. [1] (ROU) 2-6 7-6(6) 6-2 2018 Doubles Final: [7] L.Hradecka/E.Makarova (CZE/RUS) d. [6] E.Mertens/D.Schuurs (BEL/NED) 6-2 7-5

SINGLES USD $ RANK POINTS Winner 544,500 900 Runner-Up 269,576 585 Semifinalist 133,850 350 Quarterfinalist 62,660 190 Round of 16 30,330 105 Round of 32 15,600 60 Round of 56 8,300 1

MAIN DRAW QUICK-HITS

Singles wildcards: (RUS), Catherine McNally (USA), Bernada Pera (USA), (USA), (RUS) Youngest singles player: Catherine McNally, 17 years old (November 20, 2001) Oldest singles player: , 39 years old (June 17, 1980) Singles withdrawals: CiCi Bellis, Marketa Vondrousova Main draw debutantes: (RUS), (CAN), (USA), Catherine McNally (USA), Bernada Pera (USA), (CHN), (UKR)

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PREVIEW NOTES: WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN CINCINNATI, OH, USA | AUGUST 12 - 18, 2019 | USD $2,944,486

TOURNAMENT TALKING POINTS

 Defending champion Kiki Bertens is one of six former winners in the draw, along with (2014-15), Maria Sharapova (2011), (2013), Karolina Pliskova (2016) and Garbiñe Muguruza (2017)  After a first-round bye, Bertens will open her defense against either Venus Williams or a qualifier, while No.1 seed faces the winner of Sharapova and Alison Riske  Sharapova versus Riske is not the only intriguing first-round encounter, with Friday’s draw also pairing together with Muguruza, and Azarenka against  For the second week in a row, the WTA World No.1 ranking will be on the line as less than 300 points separate Barty, Pliskova and at the summit  Meanwhile, a different milestone is looming on the horizon for , who will contest her 300th career match when she steps on court for her opening round clash with Petra Martic  One To Watch – Dayana Yastremska. Twelve months ago, Yastremska, 19, was ranked outside the Top 100 and with just a handful of tour-level match wins to her name. A lot has changed since then, and, aided by a run to the last 16 in Toronto, the young Ukrainian is well in contention for a place among the seeds at the upcoming US Open

CLIJSTERS’S COMEBACK

This week marks 10 years since embarked on her gloriously successful comeback to professional tennis. The 26-year-old, who gave birth to her first child, Jada, during a two-year hiatus from the sport, upset , and Svetlana Kuznetsova at the 2009 Western & Southern Open before ultimately running out of steam against World No.1 in the quarterfinals.

Buoyed by her Cincinnati success, later that month, Clijsters, again competing as an unranked wildcard, continued her fairytale return with a dramatic run at the US Open. The popular Belgian accounted for both Serena and Venus Williams en route to the final, before seeing off a teenage to become the first unseeded woman to be crowned US Open champion, and the first mother to win a singles title since in 1980.

TOP 4 SEEDS’ TOURNAMENT HISTORY*

PLAYER TOURNAMENT HISTORY W/L WIN % [1] Ashleigh Barty (AUS) 3r (2): 2017 (l. Wozniacki), 2018 (l. Halep) 4-2 .667 [2] Naomi Osaka (JPN) 1r (1): 2018 (l. Sakkari) 0-1 .000 [3] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) WON (1): 2016 (d. Kerber in F) 10-3 .769 SF (1): 2017 (l. Muguruza) 3r (1): 2015 (l. Jankovic) 2r (1): 2018 (l. Sabalenka) [4] Simona Halep (ROU) R-Up (3): 2015 (l. S.Williams), 2017 (l. Muguruza, 2018 (l. 20-7 .741 Bertens) QF (2): 2013 (l. S.Williams), 2014 (l. Sharapova) 2r (1): 2017 (l. Townsend) 1r (1): 2012 (l. Medina Garrigues) *Main draw matches only

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PREVIEW NOTES: WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN CINCINNATI, OH, USA | AUGUST 12 - 18, 2019 | USD $2,944,486

PREVIOUS CHAMPIONS & RUNNERS-UP

YEAR CHAMPION RUNNER-UP SCORE 2014 [1] Serena Williams (USA) [9] (SRB) 6-4 6-1 2015 [1] Serena Williams (USA) [3] Simona Halep (ROU) 6-3 7-6(5) 2016 [15] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) [2] (GER) 6-3 6-1 2017 [4] Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP) [2] Simona Halep (ROU) 6-1 6-0 2018 Kiki Bertens (NED) [1] Simona Halep (ROU) 2-6 7-6(6) 6-2 If highlighted denotes competing in 2019 Cincinnati main draw

COUNTRY BREAKDOWN

Before the end of qualifying, a total of 26 countries are represented in the main draw, led by the USA with nine players:

Australia (1) Ashleigh Barty Belarus (3) Victoria Azarenka, Aryna Sabalenka, (1) Canada (1) Bianca Andreescu China (2) Wang Qiang, Chinese Taipei (1) Hsieh Su-Wei Croatia (2) Petra Martic, Donna Vekic Czech Republic (3) Petra Kvitova, Karolina Pliskova, Katerina Siniakova Denmark (1) Caroline Wozniacki (1) Anett Kontaveit France (1) Germany (2) Julia Goerges, Angelique Kerber Great Britain (1) Greece (1) Italy (1) Japan (1) Naomi Osaka Kazakhstan (1) Latvia (2) Jelena Ostapenko, Netherlands (1) Kiki Bertens Romania (1) Simona Halep (4) Ekaterina Alexandrova, , Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova Slovakia (1) Viktoria Kuzmova Spain (2) Garbiñe Muguruza, Carla Suárez Navarro Switzerland (1) Ukraine (3) , , Dayana Yastremska United States (9) , Sofia Kenin, Madison Keys, Catherine McNally, Bernada Pera, Alison Riske, , Serena Williams, Venus Williams

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