Venus Williams, Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka and Olena Ostapenko, all of whom have at least one Grand Slam title, were eliminated in the second round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Cincinnati.

Venus Williams, Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka and Jelena Ostapenko kicked out of WTA Cincinnati

The legendary Venus Williams, the athlete with 7 major titles in singles, 14 in doubles and 2 in mixed doubles, was defeated in three sets by Qinwen Zheng (24 WTA). The 43-year-old American won the first set against the Chinese woman (6-1), but could not maintain the pace and lost the next (6-2, 6-1).

2011 and 2014 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova (9th seed) lost to compatriot Linda Noskova (50th WTA). After two hours and 10 minutes of play, the young Czech (18 years old) won with a score of 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

She also lost in three sets to Victoria Azarenka, the athlete who triumphed at the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013. The player from Belarus was eliminated by Croatian Donna Vekic (22 WTA), score 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Olena Rybakina (Wimbledon-2022) won the match of the Grand Slam champions. The representative of Kazakhstan beat Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (Roland Garros-2017), score (6) 6-7, 6-2, 6-4.

The Western & Southern Open (Cincinnati) is a WTA 1000 event. The tournament is played on hard from August 14 to 20, 2023, has a total prize pool of $2,788,468, and has a starting main draw of 64 players. Titled champion – Caroline Garcia.