Iga Swiatek will be looking to defend her title at the 2026 Cincinnati Open, but last year’s runner-up Jasmine Paolini won’t feature at this year’s tournament.
The Pole won her first title in Mason last year when she beat Paolini in straight sets in the final and, now 12 months later, she has to defend the points she earned in 2025 or face the possibility of slipping out of the top 10 of the WTA Rankings.
A rolling 52-week, cumulative system is used to determine the WTA Rankings and it means players drop points from the corresponding period 12 months ago at the start of the event and points are then awarded based on a player’s round-by-round progression.
Example: If player A earned 100 points 12 months ago, they drop those points at the start of the 2026 edition. If they lose earlier this year and earn only 50 points, they are -50 for the event.
Cincinnati Open News
However, the permutations are further complicated this year as the Cincinnati Open takes place a week later, so players will actually drop/defend points from the WTA 1000 event from 2025 and their results from last year’s tournaments in Monterrey and Cleveland, which took place during the week of 18 August.
Of course, most of the star players don’t play the week before the US Open so they don’t have points to defend from Monterrey and Cleveland.
Points The Big Names Will Drop At Cincinnati Open
Iga Swiatek – 1,000
The six-time Grand Slam winner picked up the maximum 1,000 points 12 months, but her struggles this year mean she is not really comfortable in the top 10 as things stand.
Swiatek is currently on 4,539 points in the Live Rankings, but she is still alive at the Canadian Open and could finish the event with 5,419 points if she wins the title. That would soften the blow at Cincy.
However, if the Pole loses in the next few rounds in Toronto and also early in Cincy, then she could slip out of the top 10.
Jasmine Paolini – 650
The Italian won’t defend her points as she will miss the 2026 edition due to a knee injury.
Elena Rybakina – 390
The world No 2 was beaten by Swiatek in the semi-final last year and earned 390 points, but to complicate things a bit further, Rybakina is keeping her sixth-best combined WTA 1000 result as it is higher than Cincinnati.
Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff – 215
Sabalenka could still start the Cincinnati Open at No 2 in the rankings if she loses before the quarter-final in Canada and Rybakina wins the title. But – depending on what happens in Toronto – she will have a chance to either increase her lead at the top or regain the No 1 spot.
Gauff sits at No 4 in the rankings and she could be right on Jessica Pegula’s heels if she wins in Canada and can then potentially edge closer to the top two with another deep run in Cincy.
Linda Noskova – 118
The Wimbledon champion is one of those players who is defending points from both Cincy and Monterrey last year, but she lost in the second round in Mason (10 points) and the quarter-final in Mexico (108 points) 12 months ago.
Karolina Muchova – 65
The Wimbledon runner-up – who missed this week’s Canadian Open – lost in the third round in 2025 so she has a chance to put pressure on Mirra Andreeva, who is fifth in the rankings.
Naomi Osaka and Alex Eala – 0
Four-time Grand Slam winner Osaka and rising star Eala didn’t play at last year’s Cincinnati Open so they won’t drop any points.
It gives both an opportunity to climb up the rankings with Osaka currently in 13th place and Eala No 20, although are still in action at the Canadian Open so could be higher by the time the Cincy event gets underway.
