Western & Southern Open · History

The Cincinnati Open has been played at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, since 1979, the year it switched from clay to hardcourts and moved to a slot two weeks before the US Open. It is a combined event for the men's and women's tours, classed as an ATP Masters 1000 and a WTA 1000, and from 2011 to 2023 it went by the name Western & Southern Open. Its first edition was held in 1899. Since 2022 it has been owned by Beemok Capital, the firm of businessman Ben Navarro.

Origins in 1899

The tournament began as the Cincinnati Open, with the first edition starting on September 18, 1899, at the Avondale Athletic Club, on land that later became part of the Xavier University campus. Matches were played on crushed brick clay, and the first men's champion was Nat Emerson. In 1901 it was renamed the Tri-State Tennis Tournament, a title it kept until 1969, and in 1903 it moved to the Cincinnati Tennis Club, its home until 1972. The early winners include Raymond D. Little, champion from 1900 to 1902; Beals Wright, who won from 1904 to 1906; Bobby Riggs, with four titles (1936, 1937, 1938 and 1940); and Bill Talbert, the winner in 1943, 1945 and 1947. On the women's side, Clara Louise Zinke and Ruth Sanders Cordes won five titles each, the highest total in the event.

From the city to Mason

In 1974 the tournament came close to dropping off the calendar. It was played indoors at the Cincinnati Convention Center and without a women's draw, for the first time since 1919. In 1975 it moved to the Coney Island amusement park on the Ohio River under Paul Flory, a Procter & Gamble executive. The decisive change came in 1979: a move to a permanent venue in Mason, a switch from Har-Tru clay to DecoTurf II hardcourts and a new date on the calendar. Center Court, built in 1981, seats 11,600; the Grandstand, from 1995, holds 5,000; Stadium 3, from 2010, holds 4,000; and Champions Court, opened in 2025, holds 2,300. The site has 31 courts. From 1981 to 1989 the event belonged to the Grand Prix Super Series, with champions such as John McEnroe (1981), Ivan Lendl (1982), Boris Becker (1985) and Mats Wilander, who won in 1983, 1984, 1986 and 1988. In 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was staged at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.

The women's draw

After the absence of 1974, the women's event returned for a single year in 1988, won by Barbara Potter, and only came back for good in 2004, when the organizers bought the Bol Ladies Open in Croatia and moved it to Cincinnati with help from the Octagon agency. Lindsay Davenport won that edition. Since 2011 both draws have been played in the same week. Serena Williams won in 2014 and 2015; in 2020 Victoria Azarenka took the title by walkover when Naomi Osaka withdrew from the final, followed by Ashleigh Barty (2021), Caroline Garcia (2022), Coco Gauff (2023), Aryna Sabalenka (2024) and Iga Świątek (2025).

Names, sponsors and owners

In 1990 it was billed as the Thriftway ATP Championships. In 2002 Western & Southern Financial Group became its first title sponsor, and in 2011 the tournament was renamed the Western & Southern Open. In October 2023 the company ended its title sponsorship and the event went back to the Cincinnati Open name, adding six cornerstone sponsors. The men's tournament was sold to the USTA in 2008, and the USTA sold it to Beemok Capital in 2022. Rumors in 2023 of a move to Charlotte, North Carolina, were denied: that October Beemok announced the event would stay in Mason and, from 2025, run over 12 days, with both singles draws expanded from 56 to 96 players.

Champions and records

The 1990s produced titles for Pete Sampras (1992, 1997 and 1999), Michael Chang (1993 and 1994) and Andre Agassi (1995 and 1996), who won again in 2004. Roger Federer holds the men's record with seven titles: 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015. Andy Murray won in 2008 and 2011, and Rafael Nadal in 2013. In 2018 Novak Djokovic beat Federer 6-4, 6-4 in the final to become the first player to win all nine Masters 1000 events; he won again in 2020 and 2023. The list continues with Daniil Medvedev (2019), Alexander Zverev (2021), Borna Ćorić (2022), Jannik Sinner (2024) and Carlos Alcaraz (2025). In 2026 the singles titles went to Arthur Fils and to Coco Gauff, who beat Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-4 for her second Cincinnati title.