MASON, Ohio – Top seed Jannik Sinner and women’s No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka earned straight-set victories in the final of the Cincinnati Open, the first titles of the tournament for both players.
Sabalenka defeated Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-5 to win her first title since the Australian Open in January.
Sinner, just 23 years old, defeated American Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (4), 6-2 to become the youngest Cincinnati champion since 21-year-old Andy Murray won in 2008.
“I’m very happy to be in the position I’m in,” Sinner said. “I’m just trying to keep going like this mentally. It’s important to recover to be ready for New York. That’s the most important thing.”
The US Open begins on August 26 in New York.
Sinner and Tiafoe were both playing in the Cincinnati finals for the first time, with their best finish to date being the third round.
Tiafoe forced a tiebreak in the first set, but three consecutive errors led to a 7-6 loss.
Sinner took a 5-1 lead in the second set before Tiafoe saved three match points to make it 5-2 before Sinner could serve for the win.
Tiafoe reached the final in less conventional fashion, winning the first set in the quarterfinals before Hubert Hurkacz retired with a calf injury, then fending off two match points to defeat Holger Rune in three sets in the semifinals.
No American has won the title in Cincinnati since Andy Roddick in 2006.
Sabalenka rose one place to No. 2 in the rankings before the match and then kept a clean sheet on her way to her 15th WTA title. She had never made it past the semifinals in Cincinnati and suffered three losses in that round.
The 26-year-old Sabalenka can now be considered the favorite at the US Open. The Belarusian missed Wimbledon due to a shoulder injury, but then returned to the tour two weeks ago in Washington.
“I would say I’m playing really great tennis,” Sabalenka said. “Probably not the best tennis I can play, but I’m definitely on my way there. Hopefully I can reach even higher levels at the US Open.”
Against Pegula, Sabalenka needed 17 minutes to build a 4-1 lead in the first set. Pegula, who made five double faults, broke serve for the first time and leveled the second set at 5-5, but Sabalenka won the next two games to end the match that lasted 1 hour and 14 minutes.
“She played at a high level and never really slowed down,” Pegula said. “When she serves really well, it’s tough, especially on these fast courts.”
The road to the final was difficult for sixth-ranked Pegula. After defending her title in Toronto, the American played two matches due to weather-related postponements, and three of them went over three sets. Before the final, she was on the court more than two hours longer than Sabalenka.
“I’m proving to myself that I can play a lot of games and overcome a lot of challenges,” Pegula said. “I’m looking forward to doing nothing for a few days.”
Sabalenka is the only player alongside top seed Iga Swiatek with 10 or more WTA titles since 2020. She defeated Swiatek in the semifinals in Cincinnati.
