TENNIS
Why are the 2024 Cincinnati Open finals being played on a Monday?
American duo Jessica Pegula and Frances Tiafoe will attempt to defeat Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner later on Monday.
The United States will be represented in both singles finals at the 2024 Cincinnati Open, with Jessica Pegula taking on Aryna Sabalenka in the women’s tournament, followed by Frances Tiafoe against Jannik Sinner in the men’s. Unusually, both matches will be played on Monday (August 19).
For as long as most of us can remember, elite-level tennis tournaments have generally started on a Monday and finished on a Sunday. For the second week running, however, that isn’t the case.
2024 Olympic Games impact ATP and WTA Tour schedules
The first round of the previous tournament, the Canadian Open, began on Tuesday, August 6 as a result of the final of the 2024 Olympic Games, in which Novak Djokovic defeated Carlos Alcaraz, being held on Sunday, August 4.
Organisers of the tournament in Toronto delayed the start of the event to accommodate players travelling across the pond from the Olympics in Paris, which also led to the final being played a day later than usual.
That has had a knock-on effect in Cincinnati, where only a handful of first-round matches were scheduled for last Monday (12 August).
With many of the top-ranked players sitting out the upcoming Monterrey Open (women) and Winston-Salem Open (men) before the 2024 US Open starts on Monday, August 26, the schedule will now reset to its usual Monday-Sunday format.
When are the 2024 Cincinnati Open finals?
Sixth seed Pegula, who won last week in Canada, will be going in search of her seventh singles title on the WTA Tour in her match against two-time Australia Open champion Sabalenka, which gets underway at 3pm ET.
Unseeded Tiafoe, who has dropped from 10th to 27th in the world in the space of 14 months, is chasing his third victory on the ATP Tour but his first ATP 1000 triumph against world no. 1 Sinner.
First serve in the men’s final won’t be before 6pm ET. In the unlikely event that the women’s match lasts longer than three hours, Tiafoe and Sinner will get underway a little later than scheduled.