The 2021 Washington Open (called the Citi Open for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 52nd edition of the Washington Open. The event was part of the ATP Tour 500 series of the 2021 ATP Tour and part of the US Open Series leading up to the US Open grand slam in September. The Washington Open took place at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Washington, D.C., United States, from July 31 to August 8, 2021.[1]

2021 Citi Open
DateJuly 31 – August 8
Edition52nd
CategoryATP Tour 500
SurfaceHard (outdoor)
SportMaster Sport Surfaces
LocationWashington, D.C., United States
Champions
Singles
Italy Jannik Sinner
Doubles
South Africa Raven Klaasen / Japan Ben McLachlan
← 2019 · Washington Open · 2022 →

Champions

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Singles

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Doubles

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Points and prize money

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Points distribution

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Event W F SF QF Round of 16 Round of 32 Round of 64 Q Q2 Q1
Singles[2] 500 300 180 90 45 20 0 10 4 0
Doubles[2] 0 45 25

Prize money

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Event W F SF QF Round of 16 Round of 32 Round of 64 Q Q2 Q1
Singles €350,755 €178,500 €91,500 €48,000 €24,400 €13,300 €7,520 €3,685 1,970
Doubles* €118,700 €60,000 €30,500 €15,970 €8,250

*per team

Singles main-draw entrants

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Seeds

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Country Player Rank1 Seed
  ESP Rafael Nadal 3 1
  CAN Félix Auger-Aliassime 15 2
  AUS Alex de Minaur 18 3
  BUL Grigor Dimitrov 21 4
  ITA Jannik Sinner 23 5
  GBR Dan Evans 27 6
  GBR Cameron Norrie 29 7
  USA Reilly Opelka 36 8
  KAZ Alexander Bublik 39 9
  USA Taylor Fritz 42 10
  AUS John Millman 44 11
  USA Sebastian Korda 47 12
  FRA Benoît Paire 49 13
  RSA Lloyd Harris 51 14
  SRB Miomir Kecmanović 52 15
  USA Frances Tiafoe 54 16
  • 1 Rankings are as of July 26, 2021 [3]

Other entrants

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The following players received wild cards into the singles main draw:

The following players received entry from the singles qualifying draw:

Withdrawals

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Before the tournament

Doubles main-draw entrants

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Seeds

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Country Player Country Player Rank1 Seed
  AUS John Peers   SVK Filip Polášek 36 1
  GBR Neal Skupski   NZL Michael Venus 36 2
  IND Rohan Bopanna   CRO Ivan Dodig 53 3
  RSA Raven Klaasen   JPN Ben McLachlan 61 4
  • 1 Rankings are as of July 26, 2021

Other entrants

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The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:

The following pair received entry from the doubles qualifying draw:

Withdrawals

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Before the tournament

Women's invitational

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Between 2011 and 2019, the Citi Open hosted conjoining men and women tournaments. However, amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) revoked its sanction of the Citi Open for the year's tour and added two events to its provisional calendar instead: the Top Seed Open in Lexington, Kentucky and the Prague Open.[4] After the Citi Open returned in 2021 from the event's eventual cancellation in the prior year,[5] the WTA stayed its revocation of the event's sanction, so the women's tournament did not return as many women's players had scheduling conflicts with the 2020 Summer Olympics.[6] In its place, event officials created the inaugural women's invitational as a three-day exhibition during the US Open Series. Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, and Jennifer Brady were the three original headliners,[7][8] though Brady was later replaced by Victoria Azarenka.[9]

The players played in a round-robin format; the winner of each pair in their first matches would then play each other in the final match.[9][10] The games were played in a best-of-three set format with regular scoring and a 10-point "super tiebreak" to decide the third set. The player with the best record would be crowned the champion and in the case of a tie, the winner would be decided by the player who won the most sets or games. Because the tournament was not sanctioned by the WTA, the players would not accrue or lose any points. The prize money for the inaugural champion was set at $25,000.[11] On August 5, Gauff defeated Azarenka in the first match, 6–3, 6–1.[9][10] Azarenka was scheduled to play Pegula the following day, after Brady withdrew from the tournament, to decide the final match, but Azarenka herself later withdrew from the invitational after suffering an ankle injury.[12] On August 7, Pegula defeated Gauff in the final match, 4–6, 7–5, [10-8], to win the invitational.[13]

References

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  1. ^ "ATP Citi Open Overview". atptour.com.
  2. ^ a b "Rankings explained". atpworldtour.com. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  3. ^ "Rafael Nadal Will Compete at the Citi Open Tennis Tournament in DC". washingtonian.com.
  4. ^ Maake, Katishi (July 9, 2020). "Citi Open will not host women's tennis tournament this year". Washington Business Journal. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  5. ^ Fendrich, Howard (July 21, 2020). "Washington tennis tournament canceled; US Open still planned". Associated Press. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  6. ^ Clarke, Liz (June 10, 2021). "Citi Open to return at 50 percent capacity after tournament was canceled in 2020". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  7. ^ Malet, Jeff (August 2, 2021). "D.C.'s Citi Open Tennis Tournament Underway After Two-Year Hiatus (photos)". The Georgetowner. Archived from the original on 2021-08-08. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  8. ^ Byrum, Tyler (August 6, 2021). "Citi Open tournament information". NBC Sports Washington. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  9. ^ a b c Clarke, Liz (August 7, 2021). "At Citi Open exhibition, Coco Gauff talks about her bout with covid and getting vaccinated". Washington Post. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  10. ^ a b Mujkanovic, Alem (August 5, 2021). "Victoria Azarenka Joins WTA Citi Open Invitational Field". TennisUpToDate. Archived from the original on 2021-08-08. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  11. ^ Chura, Nate. "Gauff Earns Win in Washington Return". Citi Open. Archived from the original on 2021-08-08. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  12. ^ Citi Open [@CitiOpen] (August 6, 2021). ""Unfortunately, I have to withdraw from the Citi Open Women's Invitational here in D.C. Earlier today, I rolled my ankle and need to rest prior to the start of Montreal. I love D.C. and enjoyed playing in front of you all last night. See you soon!" @vika7" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. ^ Citi Open [@CitiOpen] (August 8, 2021). "Our Citi Open Women's Invitational champion is crowned Crown Flag of United States @JLPegula gets past Coco Gauff 4-6, 7-5, [10-8]. #CitiOpen" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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