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Cincinnati: World No. 1s Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek both overturned deficits to reach the semifinals of the ATP and WTA Cincinnati Open on Saturday. Sinner defeated the sixth seed 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, preventing opponent Andrey Rublev from repeating his victory in Montreal last Saturday. Swiatek achieved the same result in the women’s draw, defeating teenager Mirra Andreeva 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Sinner will face third-ranked 2021 champion Alexander Zverev in the semifinals, who overcame rain disruptions in the deciding set to beat Ben Shelton 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5. The third set started poorly, but the German player advanced to his third consecutive Cincinnati semifinal.
“The conditions and interference were terrible, but Ben was the toughest opponent in the tournament,” Zverev said. “He played fantastic tennis all week. It was hard for me to find my comfort zone today, but it’s great to win the match.” At the end of the draw, Fascist Tiafoe will face Holger Rune.
Poland’s Swiatek celebrates her win over Mila Andreeva
Half an hour later, the American was leading 6-3 when fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz, who underwent knee surgery a month ago, had to retire with a calf injury. “At 2-2, I felt something was wrong with him,” said Tiafoe, who won his 200th tour-level win. “I know what it’s like to live with pain, to recover … He does recover pretty quickly.” Rune had not won a match here until this week, beating Britain’s Jack Draper 6-4, 6-2 in 75 minutes. Rune broke twice in the second set to win in 75 minutes.
“The score was not that simple,” said Rune. “It was a very tough match and Jack kept pushing,” he said. Top seed Sinner was playing only his second match this week after receiving a first-round bye and forfeiting his match on Friday. Sinner has struggled in recent months with hip pain, illness and tonsillitis, which forced him to miss the Olympics. He fought back strongly to win the second set and broke Rublev’s serve early in the third.
Jannik Sinner of Italy serves during his match against Andrey Rublev of Italy
He sealed victory in a set that saw five of 10 games broken. His match point was blown away by a gust of wind and his opponent couldn’t catch it. “It took a lot of mental toughness today,” Sinner said. “It was tough conditions, it was very windy,” he said. Sinner finished with 31 winners, including 10 aces, while Rublev, the Montreal runner-up, made 47 unforced errors.
Poland’s Swiatek seized her chance in the penultimate game of a two-and-a-half-hour match to finally defeat Andreeva in a U.S. Open warm-up match that ended on Monday. Swiatek won on her first match point, hitting her opponent’s return out of bounds, and won her 30th match of the season at the WTA 1000 level. She has a 53-6 record this season, with 25 wins on hard courts.
– Sabalenka advances –
Swiatek will face Aryna Sabalenka, who beat Lyudmila Samsonova 6-3, 6-2, for a spot in the final on Sunday. Sabalenka is in her fourth Cincinnati semifinal and third in a row. She will take the WTA No. 2 spot from Coco Gauff before the start of the US Open on August 26. Sabalenka is seeking her first title since defending her Australian Open title in Melbourne last January.
American sixth seed Jessica Pegula battled for more than three hours in strong winds to beat Canadian Laila Fernandez 7-5, 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (7/3) to advance to the semifinals. Pegula played two matches on Friday and admitted that this last-ditch effort made her reach her ninth semifinal in the 1000 series.
“I was very tired today, but I held on. She played well in the beginning. She’s a great opponent, but I got fired up in the third set and then I settled down. “We played in very tough conditions, the wind was really strong and we both had trouble with our serves. It was crazy today, but I managed to get through it.” Pegula’s opponent will be Paula Badosa, who defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-2.
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