Aryna Sabalenka beats Iga Swiatek to reach Cincinnati Open final, Jannik Sinner makes men’s showpiece

CINCINNATI – Aryna Sabalenka squandered nine match points before defeating world No. 1 Iga Swiatek 6-3, 6-3 on Aug 18, breaking through to her first final at the WTA and ATP Cincinnati Open.

The four-time Cincinnati semi-finalist will rise to second in the WTA rankings with a week to go before the start of the US Open at Flushing Meadows.

“I finally broke the barrier,” she said of her place in the final. “It was such a tough battle with Iga, and we also had to be patient with the weather.”

Raindrops required the court lines to be dried by towels during several short interruptions.

On Aug 18, Sabalenka will face American sixth seed Jessica Pegula, a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 winner over Spain’s Paula Badosa. The match took place after press time.

Pegula, who won the Toronto title two weeks ago, is the third American in the Open Era to reach the Canadian and Cincinnati finals in the same year, after Rosie Casals (1970) and Serena Williams (2013).

Sabalenka had a battle on her hands to close out her win, with Swiatek putting up a huge battle in the closing stages.

The third-ranked Sabalenka led 5-1 in the second set but Swiatek showed why she is atop the WTA table as she repeatedly saved match winners from her opponent.

Sabalenka was broken for 5-3, but finally claimed the hard-fought victory a game later with a concluding break of Swiatek on a return winner on her 10th match point after nearly two hours.

“That was a brilliant performance from me. I’m really happy with the win, especially against Iga,” said the 26-year-old.

“We always have tough battles and get this win in straight sets... that’s kind of like achievement for me.”

Pegula and Badosa were hit by a rain delay of well over an hour midway through the second set with Badosa leading 4-3 and trailing a set.

They resumed with the Spaniard forcing a third set before Pegula broke for 5-3 in the third and served out victory a game later.

“We had tough conditions, but I was able to not get frustrated with the rain delay,” Pegula said. “I felt I was playing and competing well.

“Paula was hitting so hard, I didn’t know what to do sometimes. I had to remind myself to be aggressive and serve well. I knew it would be hard to break her.

“But I played a couple of good points and was able to serve it out.”

Pegula expects to give Sabalenka “some trouble” in the final.

“It will be a good test to go up against her,” the 30-year-old said. “I’ll do my best. It has been a long couple of weeks.”

Sabalenka’s victory served as revenge after losing to Swiatek in WTA 1000-level clay finals at Madrid and Rome last spring.

“Aryna was just playing better today and using her advantages,” the Pole said. “I didn’t serve well at the beginning, which threw me off my rhythm.

“For sure, it wasn’t a good performance for me.”

Swiatek said she played overall better than she expected, adding, “I’m happy with the result anyway. I’m already kind of focusing on what I need to do to feel even better in New York. And we’ll work on stuff for sure.”

In the men’s draw, Jannik Sinner ended his losing streak against Alexander Zverev with a 7-6 (11-9), 5-7, 7-6 (7-4) win on Aug 18 to set up a Cincinnati Open final against American Frances Tiafoe.

The world No. 1 had lost four consecutive matches to Zverev, with his only previous win over the German coming at Roland Garros in 2020.

The semi-final lasted more than three hours, not including a rain interruption.

The match was paused midway through the first-set tiebreak for nearly 30 minutes while a shower passed over the area – another episode of the poor weather which has plagued the event in recent days.

Sinner saved two Zverev set points and won the opener on his own third chance, only to drop the second set after he lost an early break and was broken again in the 12th game as he sent an overhead into the net.

The third set went into a tiebreak, with Sinner taking a 5-2 lead and triumphing on his second match point.

“It was a tough match, a very exciting match,” the Italian said. “We played in different conditions: sunny, rain and then night.

“There was a lot of tension for both of us. I’m very happy with my performance and happy to be in the final.”

Meanwhile, Tiafoe came from 5-2 down in the final set and claimed a deciding tiebreak for a 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) win over Danish 15th seed Holger Rune.

Tiafoe is the first American man to reach the final since John Isner in 2013 and he saved two match points in his come-from-behind victory.

He will move into world’s top 20, joining four compatriots in the strongest US showing since 1997.

“It was crazy, that last set was nuts,” the 26-year-old said. “It got breezy at the end, but you just had to play the percentages.

“I got lucky with a couple of net cords, which made a huge difference. I battled in the tiebreaker and he got a little tight. One thing led to another and here we are.” AFP