Swiatek and Sabalenka to face off in Cincinnati semifinals

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek will play world No. 3 Arnya Sabalenka in the semifinals of the Cincinnati Open, after both Grand Slam champions won their quarterfinals in contrasting fashion on Saturday.

Swiatek made the final four at the Lindner Family Tennis Center for the second consecutive year after coming from behind to defeat 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva in the first quarterfinal on Saturday, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, before Sabalenka easily won 6-3, 6-2 over Liudmila Samsonova, setting up the 12th edition of the rivalry between her and Swiatek.

Swiatek has won eight of her 11 previous matches against Sabalenka, including both of their matches this year in the Madrid and Rome finals. The last time they played on hard courts was in the semifinals of the WTA Finals, which Swiatek also won, but they have not played in a hard court tournament other than the season-ending championship since they dueled in the semifinals of the 2022 US Open, which Swiatek also won from one set down.

● Swiatek denies Andreeva another milestone

The fourth-youngest player at 18 to reach a WTA 1000-level quarterfinal since the tournament debuted in 2009, Andreeva started off right in her first meeting with the world No. 1, showing no nerves or frustration in the windy conditions. She broke serve at 1-1 and held the lead throughout the first set, saving break points in both the sixth and 10th games.

Forced to raise her game, Swiatek responded: She broke Andreeva’s first service game of the second set and didn’t face a break point until the final game of the match. Given the opportunity to level the final set at 6-6 and force a winning tiebreaker, Andreeva’s backhand return missed the point by a mile — and Swiatek wrapped up the 2-hour-and-30-minute victory two points later.

Swiatek is now 10-0 in quarterfinals in 2024, and the win was her 30th at a WTA 1000 event this season. Only Serena Williams (36, 2013) has won more matches at that level in a single season in the last 15 years.

● Sabalenka seals hat-trick in semi-final

While Swiatek struggled, Sabalenka played smoothly in 1 hour and 19 minutes, tying her all-time record with Samsonova at 2-2.

After holding the first set at 2-2, Sabalenka won 10 of her last 13 games, including three in a row midway through the first set and five to come from 5-3 down to 6-3, 4-0.

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