Washington Open 2026: De Minaur Goes Straight From His Wedding to a First-Round Nightmare

by Geoffrey Ejiga | by Geoffrey Ejiga

image Washington Open 2026: De Minaur Goes Straight From His Wedding to a First-Round Nightmare
Alex de Minaur just got married to Katie Boulter in Tuscany. Now, barely a week later, the defending champion returns to Washington to face Stefanos Tsitsipas in the opening round, a player who leads their head-to-head 14-2. The 2026 Mubadala Citi DC Open, the world's only combined ATP and WTA 500 event, kicks off tomorrow with a field stacked enough to justify its reputation as the true start to the US Open hard-court season. Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Jessica Pegula and Naomi Osaka all feature in a draw that got tighter after Medvedev and Auger-Aliassime withdrew.
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A Tighter Draw and No Easy Rounds

The men's draw has been reduced from 48 players to 32 this year, and the effect is immediate. There are no soft opening-round matches and no room to ease into the tournament.

Daniil Medvedev and Felix Auger-Aliassime both withdrew from the field before the draw was made on Saturday. But the depth of quality behind them means the draw has barely lost any teeth.

De Minaur is the top seed and defending champion, having saved three championship points in last year's final against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

His reward for winning the title? A first-round match against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has beaten him in 14 of their 16 career meetings. They duel tomorrow, and you can see our expert’s best Minaur vs Tsitsipas prediction here.

De Minaur's recent form has been below his best, with a fourth-round exit at Wimbledon to Flavio Cobolli the last action he has seen on tour before returning from his wedding.

Shelton, Fritz and the American Charge

Ben Shelton arrives as the second seed and arguably the most in-form player in the draw. The 23-year-old has won three titles this season, in Dallas, Munich and Stuttgart, and his powerful serve and aggressive baseline game are tailor-made for the medium-fast hard courts in Washington.

He opens against compatriot Ethan Quinn, with a potential second-round meeting against Ugo Humbert. Taylor Fritz, seeded third, reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals before losing to Alexander Zverev and will be looking to use Washington as a launchpad toward the US Open.

Meanwhile, the six seeded Frances Tiafoe  always raises his level in front of the American crowd, and a potential quarter-final between Shelton and Tiafoe is one of the most mouthwatering early matchups on the schedule.

The Names to Watch Beyond the Seeds

Lorenzo Musetti holds the fourth seed, while 20-year-old Learner Tien and 20-year-old Jakub Mensik round out a young, aggressive bottom half of the draw.

Arthur Fils, seeded eighth, faces NextGen star Rafael Jodar in a first-round match that could produce the upset of the opening day. Jack Draper is also in the field, returning to hard-court after he withdrew from 1st round action against Fritz in Wimbledon due to an injury.

WTA: Pegula Leads, Osaka Returns, Venus Gets a Wildcard

Jessica Pegula headlines the women's draw as the top seed. The world No. 3 won the title here in both 2019 and 2021 and is the clear favourite in a field that lost some depth when Marta Kostyuk and Iva Jovic both withdrew.

Elina Svitolina is the second seed, while the remaining seedings go to Naomi Osaka, Jasmine Paolini, Diana Shnaider, Anna Kalinskaya, Madison Keys and defending champion Leylah Fernandez.

Fernandez won the title last year by beating Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-2 in a one-sided final and will be looking to go back-to-back.

Yet, the Canadian faces a tricky path to do so, with Kalinskaya seeded sixth and likely to be out for revenge if the draw brings them together again.

What’s more:

  • Venus Williams, now 46, accepted a wildcard and will add star power and crowd energy to the early rounds.
  • Emma Raducanu, who reached the semi-finals here last year, has not entered, nor has world No. 2 Elena Rybakina.
  • Filipino rising star Alexandra Eala also features in the draw.

The tournament was founded in 1969 by Arthur Ashe alongside Donald Dell and John A. Harris, and remains one of the most important hard-court events on the calendar ahead of the US Open.

Andre Agassi holds the record for the most men's singles titles with five, while the youngest ever champion was Andy Roddick, who won it at 18 in 2001.