2016 Western and Southern Open champion Marin Cilic will not be returning to defend his title, with the Croatian being forced to withdraw due to an abductor injury.
Cilic beat Andy Murray in the final last year to take his first ever Masters 1000 title, though struggled with a foot injury in the Wimbledon final and was then forced to withdraw from the Rogers Cup with the same injury that sees him out of Cincinnati.
With the likes of Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka out for the rest of the year, Cilic joins the likes of Murray, Lucas Pouille, and Gilles Simon in withdrawing from the Western and Southern Open. The Croatian will not be in action until the US Open, where he won the title three years ago.
Injury woes continue for world number six
There is no doubt that injuries have plagued several players on the ATP tour throughout 2017, and Cilic is one of those affected with the Wimbledon finalist now out of a second consecutive Masters 1000 tournament.
Cilic, who won the US Open title back in 2014 and reached his second Grand Slam final at Wimbledon this year, announced on Facebook that he was disappointed to have to withdraw from Cincinnati and said that he does not feel fit enough “to compete at the top level and defend my title there.”
However, the world number six said that despite being forced out of both Montreal and Cincinnati, he is making progress in terms of his overall fitness and should be fit in time for Flushing Meadows, in what will be the final Grand Slam tournament of the year. Cilic will be hoping to go further in New York than in 2016, where he lost in the third round to Jack Sock.