Shades of her Melbourne run? Aryna Sabalenka dominates Iga Swiatek to reach Cincinnati final

Aryna Sabalenka loves a quick hard court. On Sunday in Cincinnati, she returned to her first final on the surface since running it back at the Australian Open in a stretch of play reminiscent of January’s Melbourne triumph.

In her latest effort, Sabalenka snapped a three-match losing streak against world No. 1 Iga Swiatek with a 6-3, 6-3 victory. The 26-year-old is through to her first championship match at the Lindner Family Tennis Center after falling in three prior semifinal appearances.

“This win definitely gives me a lot of confidence going into the US Open, of course. But one more time, it’s already in the past,” she told Prakash Amritraj shortly afterwards on Tennis Channel. “That was a brilliant performance from me, but I just want to keep focusing on staying in the moment and bringing my best tennis every time I’m on the court.”

The two rivals exchanged early breaks in the opening set, with both initially struggling to get any rhythm going at the line. As Sabalenka began to find hers, Swiatek’s difficulties in hitting her spots persisted.

The No. 3 seed capitalized, unloading on a forehand return to break for 4-2 and then consolidated to create space on the scoreboard. Minutes later, the set was Sabalenka’s thanks to a powerful serve +1 finish on the backhand side.

The Pole looked to reset, having lost all seven of her second-serve points. Mist briefly delayed play one rally in, and then again as ball kids twice wiped down the lines. Swiatek and Sabalenka each eventually held from deuce.

Overpowering her opponent in successive exchanges to generate her third break of the day, Sabalenka saved a break point en route to backing it up for 3-1. The Belarusian soon had a double break in hand, with her deep returns causing all sorts of timing issues for Swiatek.

After the towels came back out for another on-court drying, Sabalenka held with her 18th winner. Reaching the finish line then became a dicey proposition.

Swiatek impressively saved seven match points in a 12-minute game that began with a 0-40 deficit to reach 2-5. Tension increased when Sabalenka attempted to serve it out. Though she recovered from a 15-40 position, two more match points went unclaimed. Her first double fault of the contest ultimately handed Swiatek one of the breaks back.

“That was the toughest moment of match. I just kept telling myself, ‘she’s world No. 1, she’s gonna keep fighting, trying her best,’“ she said. “You got to stay aggressive, put her under pressure, play your tennis, trust your instincts and just go for it. That’s my mentality in those tough moments.”

The four-time major winner had a chance to force Sabalenka to serve for it again, but watched a match-ending return winner fly by. Sabalenka improved to 4-8 in their series, avenging earlier 2024 defeats n consecutive clay-court finals at Madrid (where she held three championship points) and Rome thanks to a 24 for 30 success rate against Swiatek's second serve.

Set to return to No. 2 in the rankings next week, Sabalenka will look to clinch the trophy without dropping a set come Monday—a feat she accomplished at the season's first Grand Slam event. Sabalenka awaits the winner of Toronto champion Jessica Pegula and Washington, D.C. titlist Paula Badosa.