Sabalenka stays perfect in Cincinnati to end Pegula’s streak, claim sixth WTA 1000 title
Sabalenka served brilliantly, winning the match in an hour and 15 minutes
Aryna Sabalenka – Cincinnati 2024 © Icon SMI / Panoramic
Aryna Sabalenka dismantled Jessica Pegula in the final of the Cincinnati WTA 1000 on Monday, defeating the American 6-3, 7-5 to win her second trophy of the year.
The victory is Sabalenka’s sixth WTA 1000 title overall, and sees her return to the world No 2 position ahead of the US Open next week.
Pegula entered the match on a nine-match winning streak, looking to become the first woman in 50 years to win both Canada and Cincinnati in consecutive weeks. However, having not dropped a set all tournament, Sabalenka continued her own brilliant streak of form to race past the American in one hour, 15 minutes.
“We’ve been through a lot, but we never stop working, never stop improving,” declared the soon-to-be world No 2 after the match, who was forced to miss Wimbledon with a rotator cuff injury.
Sabalenka incredible on serve, brutal on return
With the exception of a few brief patches, this match was all one-way traffic in Sabalenka’s favour.
The Belarusian was imperious on serve, winning 91 percent of first serve points for the match. At one stage, she had won 35 of 39 points on serve, including her first 16 in a row in the second set. So ruthless was Sabalenka’s serve, that at one stage, Pegula thought a different player was across the net from her.
“Andrew (tournament organiser) said Aryna [in the presentation], but I thought he said Serena,” laughed Pegula after the match.
“It felt like Serena today, with the way you were serving there for a little bit. I may have wanted Serena instead of Aryna today.”
But it wasn’t just Sabalenka’s serve that was firing. The 26-year-old was brutal on return too, winning 42 percent of her return points and pouncing on Pegula’s second serves in particular.
She produced more than triple the winners of Pegula, blasting 28 winners to the American’s eight across the match, while only making seven more unforced errors (23 to 16).
Second-set wobble only blight in otherwise perfect match from Sabalenka
Outside of a brief wobble when serving for the match in the second set, Sabalenka constructed a near-perfect match to snap Pegula’s winning streak.
She bagged an early break in the first set, breaking Pegula in the fourth game. Playing lights out tennis, she didn’t look back, holding onto her advantage to win the opening set 6-3.
Any thought of a comeback was quickly squashed by Sabalenka immediately in the second set as well, when she broke in the opening game. The Belarusian raced through her service games to quickly bring up 5-4 and a chance to serve for the match.
However, having not lost a point on serve all set, Sabalenka wobbled. She sprayed a few errors, including her first double fault, to offer Pegula her first break point of the match. The American took it, levelling the set at 5-5.
Pegula’s brief resurgence would be quelled by Sabalenka in the very next game though, as she broke back, letting out a roar that may well have been heard by the rest of the WTA Tour already practicing in New York.
Serving for the match a second time, Sabalenka made no mistake, closing out the final for a 6-3, 7-5 victory.
