No. 3 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus defeated No. 6 seed Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-5 in an hour and 15 minutes to win the Cincinnati Open on Monday in Mason, Ohio.
Sabalenka broke through for the first time since the Australian Open and won her first WTA 1000 tournament title of the year by stopping the red-hot Pegula, who won last week’s WTA 1000 event in Toronto.
It was an emotional win for Sabalenka, 26, who missed Wimbledon last month due to a shoulder injury.
“This trophy means a lot, it is a really big achievement, especially coming after injury, with this fear of getting injured again,” Sabalenka said in her post-match interview.
“My team did everything they could to make sure I felt as good as I can and I am proud of myself I was able to handle all of those emotions.”
Sabalenka hit 10 aces with just one double fault. Pegula, meanwhile, had five aces but also committed five double faults. Sabalenka converted a break-point opportunity three times in five opportunities.
The most important came in the 11th game of the second set, one game after Pegula broke Sabalenka’s serve to tie the set 5-5.
Once Sabalenka had regained control, the match was hers to lose.
Jannik Sinner captures Cincinnati Open title
She won on her first match point in the 12th game.
Sabalenka is set to pass Coco Gauff for the No. 2 spot in the world rankings.
To reach the final, Sabalenka had to defeat No. 10 seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals and upset No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland 6-3, 6-3 in the semis.
Pegula was vying to become the first woman in the Open Era to win the Canadian and Cincinnati Opens back to back.
She entered Monday on a nine-match winning streak. Pegula said in her on-court interview that facing Sabalenka was like facing Serena Williams with the way she served on Sunday.
“I don’t know, I may have wanted Serena instead of Aryna today,” Pegula said. Pegula moved into the top eight of the Race to the WTA Finals leaderboard thanks to her showings in Toronto and Cincinnati.
The top eight at season’s end qualify for the season-ending WTA Finals Riyadh.
Tennis in the Land No. 4 seed Xinyu Wang of China defeated Russia’s Anna Blinkova 6-1, 6-1 in an hour flat to kick off the first round in Cleveland. Wang saved 2 of 3 break points while breaking Blinkova’s serve 6 times in 10 chances.
Wang won 19 of her 27 first-service points, as well as 13 of her 15 second-return points.
No. 5 seed Anastasia Potapova of Russia had a similarly easy excursion, defeating Frenchwoman Diane Parry 6-3, 6-2 in 66 minutes. Other winners included McCartney Kessler, Cristina Bucsa of Spain, Clara Tauson of Denmark, Clara Burel of France and Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands.
In evening action, No. 7 seed Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria cruised past the United States’ Lauren Davis, 6-1, 6-4, and No. 8 seed Sofia Kenin beat Katie Volynets 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 in an all-American matchup.
Abierto GNP Seguros Argentina’s Maria Lourdes Carle overcame a slow start to upset eighth-seeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the first round at Monterrey, Mexico.
Carle, who committed 11 double faults and lost her serve six times, rallied after falling behind 2-0 in the third set.
She logged breaks on each of Kudermetova’s last three service games to come out on top.
Other first-round winners included Israel’s Lina Glushko, Russia’s Erika Andreeva and New Zealand’s Lulu Sun.
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