Thursday features fourth round singles action, as well as the beginning of the quarterfinals in men’s singles.
In the championship match of last year’s Wimbledon, Barbora Krejcikova defeated Jasmine Paolini 6-4 in the third to claim her second Major singles title. On Thursday, we get the rematch, and Paolini gets a chance to avenge that heartbreaking loss.
Also on Thursday, two of the ATP’s strongest hitters collide in a fourth round contest, as recent Toronto champion Ben Shelton takes on Jiri Lehecka.
Plus, multi-time Major champs Jannik Sinner and Coco Gauff will both be in action.
Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s two most prominent matches, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule. Thursday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
Jasmine Paolini (7) vs. Barbora Krejcikova – Not Before 1:00pm on Center Court
Paolini has not dropped a set through two rounds, despite arriving in Cincy having lost three of her last four matches. And three of the four sets she’s contested have been decided by tiebreaks, so she’s playing her best at crucial moments. Jasmine owns 30 wins this season, as she now vies for her second Cincinnati quarterfinal within the last three years.
By contrast, Krejcikova has already contested a trio of three-setters this past week, which includes a notable win over Elina Svitolina. The start of her season was delayed until mid-May due to injury, so she’s only 8-5 on the year. Like Jasmine, Barbora has previously achieved one quarterfinal in Cincinnati, back in 2021.
The Wimbledon final is their only prior encounter, outside of a qualifying match seven years ago at the Australian Open, which also went Krejcikova’s way. But as per Tennis Abstract, Barbora has only faced one top 10 player this year, and lost to them, so she is not accustomed to opposition of this magnitude at this time. I favor the more match-tough Paolini to get some revenge from last year’s Wimbledon, and advance to her second Cincinnati quarterfinal.
Ben Shelton (5) vs. Jiri Lehecka (22) – Not Before 4:30pm on Grandstand
This is the lone fourth round match yet to be played in the men’s singles draw. Shelton is now 34-16 during 2025, and is currently on an eight-match winning streak. His title run last week in Canada included victories over four top 20 players (Cobolli, de Minaur, Fritz, Khachanov), to earn the biggest title of his career. And he hasn’t lost a set through two rounds in Cincy, where he was a quarterfinalist a year ago.
Lehecka is 30-16 on the season, but the majority of his wins have come at lower-level events. Even with his two victories this week, he’s just 5-6 this year at Masters level, and just 6-3 at Majors. The now-23-year-old was a semifinalist last year on the clay of Madrid, yet hasn’t advanced beyond this round at a Masters tournament since that run.
Their only previous meeting occurred two months ago on grass in Stuttgart, where Shelton was victorious 6-4, 6-4. On a similarly-fast surface in Cincinnati, and in his home country, I like a confident Ben to prevail again on Thursday. In a matchup where both possess similar styles, confidence and home court advantage will be crucial differences.
Other Notable Matches on Thursday:
Lucia Bronzetti vs. Coco Gauff (2) – Gauff received a walkover in the last round from Dayana Yastremska due to illness. Bronzetti is another woman to already survive three third-sets, and has upset two seeds (Kasatkina, Ostapenko) to equal her best-ever result at a WTA 1000 event. Coco is 2-0 against Lucia, with two straight-set victories.
Jannik Sinner (1) vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime (23) – Sinner is now on a 24-match winning streak on hard courts, after a straight-set triumph on Wednesday against Adrian Mannarino. He’s actually 0-2 against Auger-Aliassime, though they haven’t played since this same event three years ago, and both are very different players in 2025. Felix hasn’t lost a set to this stage, yet this is the farthest he’s been at a Masters 1000 tournament in over a year.
Thursday’s full Order of Play is here.
