Osaka, Stephens, Venus Williams, Clijsters receive wild cards for Western & Southern Open

Naomi Osaka, Sloane Stephens, Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters received a wildcard to play the upcoming Western & Southern Open alongside home favorite Caty McNally.

The main draw will commence on the 22nd of August and it will be played in New York instead of Cincinnati for safety reasons.

It was widely expected that Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters received a wildcard since they couldn’t access directly the main draw. However, it was strange that Naomi Osaka and Sloane Stephens accepted a wild card as they had the opportunity to comfortably get in the official entry list 3 days before.

Naomi Osaka and the US Open

Naomi playing the Western & Southern is great news since her strange absence from the official entry list made people wonder if she wanted to compete in the American slam. However, there are still question marks about the presence of the US Open defending champion Bianca Andreescu. The Canadian will not play any warm-up tournament before the US Open even if she is missing the competitions since October 2018 when she got injured during the WTA Finals.

Probably Bianca is thinking about competing only on clay as the surface is less taxing on her body. However, it’s all speculations right now.

✅ Kim Clijsters
✅ Caty McNally
✅ Naomi Osaka
✅ Sloane Stephens
✅ Venus Williams

Four Major champions and a Cincinnati native secure wild cards into the 2020 #WesternandSouthernOpen.

📰: https://t.co/z7ElR3mlDh pic.twitter.com/vWKhYDIJ9r

— Cincinnati Open (@CincyTennis) July 30, 2020

Naomi Osaka in 2020

Now ranked no.10, Naomi played her last match on the 7^th of February when she was overcome by Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-0 6-3 in the Rubber 1 of the Fed Cup.

Naomi Osaka’s most significant performance of the present season was getting to the semi-finals in Brisbane.

Sloane Stephens in 2020

Now the world no.37, Stephens played her last match on the 4^th of March when she lost to Leylah Annie Fernandez 6-7⁴ 6-3 6-3 in the 2^nd round in Monterrey.

Naomi Osaka and Sloane Stephens played each other twice. The head to head is 2-0 for Stephens. The last time that they played each other, Sloane Stephens won 7-5 4-6 6-1 in the round robin in Singapore (WTA Finals) in October 2018.

Venus Williams in 2020

Now ranked no.67, Venus Williams played her last match on the 2^nd of March when she capitulated to Karolina Anna Schmiedlova 4-6 6-3 6-2 in the 1^st round in Monterrey.

Kim Clijsters in 2020

Clijsters played her last match on the 3^rd of March when she capitulated to Johanna Konta 6-3 7-5 in the 1^st round in Monterrey.

Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters played each other 13 times. The head to head is 7-6 for Clijsters. The last time that they fought against each other, Kim Clijsters won 4-6 7-6² 6-4 in the semifinal in New York (U.S. Open) in September 2010.