The 2012 Toronto Masters are down to semifinalists with Novak Djokovic, Janko Tipsarevic, John Isner, and Richard Gasquet all in the hunt for the coveted title. For those looking ahead at next week, the 2012 Cincinnati Masters draw has been released. Roger Federer and David Ferrer, after missing Toronto, are both in Cincy’s draw while Rafael Nadal continues to sit out.

Andy Murray was a question mark heading into Cincinnati following the Scot’s withdrawal in Toronto. Murray won one match at the Canadian Masters but then pulled out of the tournament due to a minor knee problem. If he was hoping for a lucky draw to help his chances in Cincinnati then those hopes were in vain.

Murray has a bye through the first round but after that he could be looking at the following nightmarish draw to a title: Sam Querrey, Andy Roddick, Juan Martin del Potro, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer. There is not one player in that group that Murray can hope for a routine match against, including in his prospective early round matches. Murray is certainly capable of beating each player heads-up but the luck of the draw appears to have gone to Federer and Ferrer.

Those two players are on the other half of the draw, a side that is relatively absent of tough outs. Tomas Berdych is the fifth seed in the tournament and he is on Federer’s half of the draw. However the Czech national has played so poorly the last couple of months that he can’t be given much credit as a threat even to make the Cincinnati semifinals.

If the seeds held up the quarterfinals in Cincinnati would look like this:

(1) Roger Federer vs (8) Juan Monaco
(4) David Ferrer vs (5) Tomas Berdych
(3) Andy Murray vs (6) Juan Martin del Potro
(2) Novak Djokovic vs (7) Janko Tipsarevic

Federer, who has won the Cincinnati Masters four times, is clearly a major threat to win the 2012 title following his week off. Djokovic is also a clear threat but there’s mounting fatigue stacked against the Serb. Djokovic played the maximum number of matches at the Olympics and he looks good for the title in Toronto. If he makes a deep run in Cincinnati he’ll have played a ton of tennis in a short period of time and that could set him up for a loss.

If there’s anyone on tour at this point that can battle through three straight tournaments in about three weeks it is Djokovic. However I think the Cincinnati Masters, which run from August 12th to 19th, will be about Federer and del Potro this season. Following Cincinnati there is an event in Winston-Salem however that is a 250 series event which currently boasts Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a player not in the Cincinnati draw, as the top ranked player in the field.

The 2012 US Open is the culmination of these hard court events, the last grand slam of the calendar year and one scheduled to start on August 27th. Cincinnati will provide some insight as to who the favorites are heading into Flushing Meadows but with Nadal out, Tsonga out, Murray potentially bothered, and Djokovic potentially fatigued I'm not sure the Masters event in Ohio should count for all that much when looking ahead at the hard court slam.