Three Things To Know About the Quarterfinals
1) Oldest Ever
John Isner, 37, is the oldest Cincinnati quarterfinalist in the tournament’s Open Era (since 1969). Isner passes Roger Federer, who was a younger 37 when he reached his most recent Cincinnati quarterfinal in 2018. Isner is making his 15th appearance in Cincinnati, which also happens to be the age difference between him and 22-year-old Sebastian Korda who he beat yesterday to reach his third Western & Southern Open quarterfinal.
2) Three In a Row?
2019 Western & Southern Open champion Madison Keys earned her first career win over a world No. 1 player yesterday when she ousted top seed Iga Swiatek, a two-time French Open champion. The round before that she defeated another French Open champion, Jelena Ostapenko. Today she’ll try to oust three Grand Slam major winners in a row as she faces Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
3) Queen City Qualifiers
For the first time in the Open Era, two qualifiers have reached the women’s quarterfinals. Caroline Garcia and Ajla Tomljanovic become only the eighth and ninth qualifiers to reach the women’s quarterfinals here. Garcia faces seventh seed Jessica Pegula who is one of those nine, reaching the quarters as a qualifier just two years ago. Tomljanovic faces two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. Only two qualifiers have gone on to reach the semifinals in Cincinnati.
Fun Fact
Nineteen-year-old Carlos Alcaraz is bidding to become the first teenager to reach the men’s semifinals at the Western & Southern Open since 19-year-old Pete Sampras in 1991.
Making History
The women’s draw has proved that every player is topnotch, as only two seeded players have advanced to the quarterfinals. That has happened only one other time in the history of this tournament that dates back to 1899, in 1960. And none of the top five seeds has reached the quarterfinals for the first time since seeding began in 1927.
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