( CNN ) -- Time waits for no man nor the players of the ATP and WTA tours as tennis ' top men and women cross the border from Canada and head to Cincinnati , Ohio to compete in their second Masters tournament in consecutive weeks . This year will see a new champion crowned in the men 's tournament with Rafael Nadal forced to sit out the defense of his title after injuring his wrist at the end of last month . World No . 1 Novak Djokovic will hope that he can succeed the Spaniard after finishing runner up four times at the Masters 1000 event in previous years . `` I care about winning this title a lot , '' Djokovic said , the ATPTour website reported . `` I lost four times in the finals . I have n't been really close in those finals either . I have n't been able to perform my best in this tournament when it was needed . `` But I did have a lot of good matches in Cincinnati . Hopefully I can go one step further this time , but I have n't been playing as well as I wanted in Toronto , '' said Djokovic , who was beaten by France 's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the third round last week . `` So these couple of days I 've put a lot of hours in on the practice court to upgrade my game and get my level of performance where it needs to be in order to have a chance to go far in the tournament . '' The Serb -- the top seed -- will have a testing opener against the winner of the match between Bernard Tomic of Canada and France 's Gilles Simon who play Monday . The top eight seeds all have a first-round bye as lower-ranked players all vie for a second round spot . Germany 's Benjamin Becker was an early straight-sets winner over Ivo Karlovic from Croatia . The German 's 7-6 ( 7/5 ) 6-4 win sets up a second-round match with Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka . Becker 's compatriot , Philipp Kohlschreiber is also safely through to the second round after a three-set win ( 6-3 4-6 6-4 ) over France 's Jeremy Chardy . The world No . 24 is rewarded with a second round tie against sixth seed David Ferrer from Spain . His compatriot , Tommy Robredo was also a winner on Monday , beating American Jack Sock 7-6 ( 7/5 ) 6-3 to book a meeting with another U.S. player , Sam Querrey . After defeating Roger Federer to win the second Masters title of his career last Sunday , Tsonga ( seeded 12th ) starts his campaign on Tuesday against Russia 's Mikhail Youzhny . Azarenka defends 2013 crown . In the women 's draw , Sam Stosur will face Serena Williams in the second round for the second week running if the Australian can overcome Varvara Lepchenko of the U.S. on Monday evening . Williams brushed Stosur aside last week in Montreal before suffering a surprise defeat to her sister Venus in the semis . Venus gets her Cincinnati campaign underway with a first round match against Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic while her conqueror in Sunday 's final , Poland 's Agnieszka Radwanska has a bye and will play either Japan 's Kurumi Nara or Swiss player Romina Oprandi . Reigning champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus will face the Czech Republic 's Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in her opening match on Tuesday . Maria Sharapova , winner at Cincinnati in 2011 , will play Madison Keys in her opening match following the American 's straight-set win ( 6-2 6-4 ) over France 's Alize Cornet early on Monday . Belgium 's Kirsten Flipkens was also a first-round winner , beating Slovenia 's Polona Hercog 6-3 6-2 to set up a second-round match against French Open finalist Simona Halep of Romania . Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic will face Elina Svitolina in the second round after the Ukrainian 's straight sets win over America 's Lauren Davis .
Both ATP and WTA players back in action this week at Cincinnati Masters . Reigning men 's champ Rafa Nadal not competing because of wrist injury . Novak Djokovic looking for first Cincinnati win after finishing runner up four times . Women 's defending champion Victoria Azarenka starts title defense on Tuesday .