Final thoughts on Cincinnati

Several unexpected things happened this year at the Western and Southern Open, but then--it's the WTA, and it's generally best to expect the unexpected. We weren't expecting Naomi Osaka to retire, though she was wise to do so (Osaka said that she has a high pain tolerance and sometimes plays on when it would be best for her to stop). We also weren't expecting the retirement of Belinda Bencic, which occurred in the first round.

Ever the optimist when it comes to the Spaniard, I didn't think 2017 champion Garbine Muguruza would go out in the first round, but given that she lost to our champion, Madison Keys, the loss doesn't seem as stunning as it might have. Keys played great tennis from the moment she arrived at the tournament.

The bigger surprise was the elimination of defending champion Kiki Bertens, who lost to Venus Williams in the second round. Williams was in especially good form in Cincinnati.

The best surprise was the stunning run of wild card Svetlana Kuznetsova, who made it all the way to the final, and took out four seeded players--three in the top 10--and one up-and-coming young player on her way there. Given Kuznetsova's long injury layoff, no one--including Kuznetsova--was expecting this to happen. The 34-year-old veteran put on quite a show the entire time she was here, and was, of course, her usual entertainingly philosophical self.

It was blazing hot and humid the entire week. Last year, through some weather fluke, it was mild and comfortable, but this year, it was back to normal, but with only one rain delay. The weather prevented me from seeing a few matches I wanted to see (well, I watched them on the monitor), and it frequently caused me to watch only part of a match while I was outside.

Of all the matches I saw--"live" or otherwise--the one that sticks out for me was the third round contest between 9th seed Aryna Sabalenka and Maria Sakkari. It was full of twists and turns, with both players going at it as though they were fighting for their very careers. I think everyone who saw it was mesmerized by it. Sakkari won--and though she would go out in the next round against top seed Ash Barty--the Greek player continued to establish herself as someone to watch.

Other players who impressed this week were Sonya Kenin (who continues to impress), Anett Kontaveit, Donna Vekic and, of course, the inimitable Hsieh Su-Wei, who played a memorable match against Naomi Osaka.

Finally, this may have been the "turn the corner" event for Madison Keys, who said that she felt that she had finally put all the elements of her game together this week. She also said that she felt calm, and not putting so much pressure on herself. Her serve was mostly strong, and her movement was superb. She goes into the U.S. Open with a lot of momentum.

The Cincinnati experience is an exciting and fan-friendly one, with almost all of the top WTA and ATP players competing. The grounds are filled with flowers, parking is free, and fans have a wide variety of food and vendor choices. 2019 did not disappoint,