Kanepi, now ranked 31st in the world at the age of 37, will face Belarusian player Viktoria Azarenka, a former world number one and four-time grand-slam winner in round one.

Should she get through, she will face the winner from Williams, who recently announced her retirement and who played in the Wimbledon Championships last month, and British star Emma Raducanu, ranked 10th in the world.

Estonia's other top player, world number two Anett Kontaveit, has a bye for round one in Cincinnati and will face the winning qualifier in round two.

The Western and Southern Open is the last of several major North American tournaments which are warmers for the U.S. Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, which starts two weeks on Monday.

In the most recent of these, the Canadian Open, Kanepi overcame another former world number one, Naomi Osaka (Japan), in round one, only to go out in round two to yet another former top-ranked player, Garbine Muguruza (Spain).

Kontaveit, who has been off form since contracting coronavirus in spring but nonetheless remains the second-highest-ranked player worldwide, went out in round one in Canada, in a surprise loss to Jil Teichmann of Switzerland.

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