Both unseeded at the Cincinnati Open, Mboko and Osaka had been granted performance byes into the second round after reaching the Canadian Open final. Due to the newly-extended formats of 1000-level tournaments and the overlap between the two events, both would have otherwise had to play their first-round match on Friday in Cincinnati.

WTA Montreal tournament champion Victoria Mboko and beaten finalist Naomi Osaka officially withdrew on Friday from the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open in decisions openly telegraphed after their Thursday night final in Canada.