ATP Tour

Djokovic in Zverev’s half of Cincinnati draw, could face Draper in R3

Novak Djokovic will have little time to settle in upon his return to ATP Tour action at the upcoming Cincinnati Open.

The third-seeded Serbian has been drawn in the same half of the draw as top seed Alexander Zverev at the hard-court ATP Masters 1000 event in Ohio. The 39-year-old Djokovic will first be focused on an opening-round meeting with Thiago Agustin Tirante or Jan Choinski, while former World No. 4 Jack Draper, 31st seed Matteo Arnaldi and #NextGenATP star Martin Landaluce lurk as potential third-round opponents.

Djokovic is a three-time champion in Cincinnati, where he holds a 45-12 record according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. The former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings will be playing his first tournament since July at Wimbledon, where he reached the semi-finals before falling to eventual champion Jannik Sinner.

View the full Cincinnati draw here

Top seed Zverev will take on Cameron Norrie or Dino Prizmic in his opening match, with the German eyeing a quick response after his early exit in Montreal. The top half of the Cincinnati draw also features fifth seed Alex de Minaur, who is seeded to meet Djokovic in the quarter-finals, while seventh seed Flavio Cobolli begins against Miomir Kecmanovic or Camilo Ugo Carabelli.

Having missed his home Masters 1000 in Montreal with a back injury, Felix Auger-Aliassime will hope to make up for lost time in Cincinnati, where he is a three-time quarter-finalist- The second-seeded Canadian starts his latest title bid in Ohio against 2022 finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas or Valentin Royer.

Auger-Aliassime trails former World No. 3 Tsitsipas 3-7 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. The two have not faced off since the Dubai final in 2025, when Tsitsipas prevailed in straight sets. In Cincinnati, the other Top-10 star in the bottom quarter of the draw is eighth seed Ben Shelton, who starts against Jenson Brooksby or a qualifier.

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Washington champion Taylor Fritz will hope his Montreal loss to Tirante was just a blip in his North American summer: The sixth seed and home favourite starts his Cincinnati campaign against his countryman Alex Michelsen or Jesper de Jong. Fritz is competing in a stacked third quarter of the draw that also includes fourth seed Daniil Medvedev, 11th seed Casper Ruud, 13th seed Andrey Rublev and 23rd seed Joao Fonseca.