Cincinnati semifinals: Swiatek vs. Sabalenka, Pegula vs. Badosa

The semifinals will be held at the Cincinnati Open, with top-seeded Iga Swiatek taking on third-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, while sixth-seeded Jessica Pegula will face unseeded Paula Badosa.

In Saturday’s first quarterfinal, Swiatek defeated 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva in a thrilling 4-6 6-3 7-5 clash in their first-ever meeting. Andreeva showed remarkable composure in the windy conditions, breaking Swiatek at 1-1 and maintaining her lead throughout the first set, saving two break points in both the sixth and 10th games. Forced to raise her game, Swiatek responded by breaking Andreeva’s serve early in the second set and remained dominant until the final game, where she faced her only break point. Andreeva had a chance to push the third set to a tiebreak, but her backhand return missed the target, allowing Swiatek to secure the 2-hour, 30-minute victory shortly after.

Sabalenka, on the other hand, defeated Liudmila Samsonova 6-3 6-2, making her twelfth career clash with Swiatek, having trailed 3-8 in their head-to-head matches.

Fresh from a successful title defence at the Canadian Open in Toronto, Pegula extended her winning streak to eight matches with a hard-fought 7-5 6-7(1) 7-6(3) victory over Leylah Fernandez. The first set was a rollercoaster ride, with seven consecutive breaks of serve, with Pegula finally breaking the streak and consolidating her final break with a love hold to secure the set. In the second set, Pegula saw a 4-0 lead slip away as Fernandez came back to take the set in a tiebreak. In the final set, Fernandez recovered from a break down at 0-3, but Pegula eventually prevailed in the tiebreak, converting her third match point to secure the win.

Pegula will face a resurgent Paula Badosa in Sunday’s semifinal. Badosa defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3 6-2 to reach her first WTA 1000 semifinal since Indian Wells in 2022 and her second U.S. semifinal this summer, following her title win earlier this month in Washington, D.C.