The Rogers Cup is the third oldest tournament in tennis after the Wimbledon and US Open. It is one of the most important warm-up events for the US Open. Held on hard courts, the Rogers Cup that is held at Montreal and Toronto are followed by the Cincinnati Masters. The Canada-Cincinnati Masters are held in back-to-back weeks. Both these hard court Masters tournaments were conducted on clay up until 1979. It was in 1997 when the tournaments were scheduled for back-to-back weeks for the first time. This is the third time in the tennis season when two Masters events are held in back-to-back weeks. The first two are the Indian Wells-Miami Masters and the Madrid-Rome Masters double.
Six men have won the American Swing Masters double whereas only one woman has been successful in winning it in the Open Era.
1) Cliff Richey (1969)
American player Cliff Richey won the first ever Canada-Cincinnati double in the Open Era. The tournaments were then played on clay courts. Back then both tournaments had a gap of two weeks between them. Richey defeated Butch Buchholz, 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-0 at the Canadian Open finals and Allan Stone 6-1 6-2 at the Cincinnati Masters finals. Richey reached a career high of World No.6 in his career.
2) Eddie Dibbs (1978)
This was a time when the Cincinnati Masters were held before its Canadian counterpart. America’s Eddie Dibbs won the Canada-Cincinnati double after being a set down in both the finals. He defeated Raul Ramirez 5-7 6-3 6-2 in the finals at Cincinnati. At Canada, he won against Jose Luis Clerc 5-7 6-4 6-1. This was the last edition featuring both the events on clay. Nicknamed “Fast Eddie,” Dibbs attained a career high ranking of World No.5.
3) Andre Agassi (1995)
Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Michael Chang dominated the 90s. The Canadian Open now preceded the Cincinnati Masters. The two tournaments were separated by a gap of one week then. Agassi was the defending champion at the Canadian Open. He successfully defended his title by defeating Sampras in the finals in three sets. At the Cincinnati Masters he faced defending champion Michael Chang in the finals. “The Punisher” got the better of him in straight sets. It was Agassi’s sixth title of the year and his seventh Masters title overall. Agassi would finish 1995 as the World No.2 behind Sampras by a difference of only 77 points.
4) Patrick Rafter (1998)
The Canadian Open, then known as the du Maurier Open had Pete Sampras as its top seed. Agassi was looking to regain his lost form and cruised past Goran Ivanisevic and Sampras in back to back matches. However, he lost to Richard Krajicek in the semis. On the other side of the draw, third seeded Patrick Rafter defeated Mark Philippoussis, Jonas Bjorkman and Tim Henman to face Krajicek in the finals. Rafter defeated Krajicek 7-6 6-4 to win the tournament. At Cincinnati, Rafter carried his Canadian Open further by defeating Todd Martin, Petr Korda and Yevgeny Kafelnikov to set up a final clash with the defending champion and top seed, Pete Sampras. The Australian staged a comeback after dropping the opening set and took the next two sets to become the first non-American to win the Canada-Cincinnati double. He also became the first player to win the two Masters titles in back-to-back weeks.
5) Andy Roddick (2003)
Andy Roddick was seeded sixth when he entered the Canadian Open in 2003. Roddick won 6-1 6-3 against David Nalbandian in the final to win the title. Roddick next entered Cincinnati as the seeded seventh. The American defeated his Davis Cup team mate Mardy Fish in a deciding set in the finals.
6) Rafael Nadal (2013)
Rafael Nadal’s 2013 season is notable for his performances on hard courts. The Spaniard defeated the two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic in the semis of the Rogers Cup. He later defeated home favourite Milos Raonic 6-2 6-2 to win his 25th Masters title. At Cincinnati, Nadal played two tough tiebreaker sets against John Isner in the finals to win his first ever back-to-back Masters title in the American hard court swing. He became the second non-American player to accomplish this feat.
7) Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1973)
In 1973, the ladies field at Cincinnati saw Australia’s Evonne Goolagong defeat Chris Evert in straight sets. A week later, Goolagong would defeat Germany’s Helga Niessen Masthoff in the finals of the Canadian Open and successfully defend her title. She became the first and the only woman in the Open Era to complete the Canada-Cincinnati double. Goolagong reached the finals of the US Open that year but lost to compatriot Margaret Court 7-5 5-7 6-2.
