The semifinals are set at the Cincinnati Open, with top seed Iga Swiatek taking on third seed Aryna Sabalenka, while sixth seed Jessica Pegula will face the unseeded Paula Badosa.

In Saturday’s first quarterfinal, Swiatek edged past 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva in a gripping 4-6 6-3 7-5 battle—their first-ever meeting. Andreeva showed remarkable composure in the windy conditions, breaking Swiatek at 1-1 and maintaining her lead throughout the first set, saving two break points in both the sixth and tenth games. Forced to raise her level, Swiatek responded by breaking Andreeva’s serve early in the second set and remained dominant until the final game, where she faced her only break point. Andreeva had a chance to push the third set to a tiebreak, but her backhand return missed the mark, allowing Swiatek to seal the 2-hour, 30-minute victory shortly after.

In contrast, Sabalenka sailed past Liudmila Samsonova 6-3 6-2, setting up her 12th career showdown with Swiatek, whom she trails 3-8 in their head-to-head encounters.

Fresh off a successful title defense at the Canadian Open in Toronto, Pegula extended her winning streak to eight matches with a hard-fought 7-5 6-7(1) 7-6(3) victory over Leylah Fernandez. The first set was a rollercoaster, featuring seven consecutive breaks…

We have the last eight women standing at the Cincinnati Open, led by Top 10 players Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula.

Iga Swiatek [1] vs. Mirra Andreeva

Top seed Iga Swiatek dominated her third-round match, losing just four games against No. 15 seed Marta Kostyuk. In the quarterfinals, the Pole will have her first career meeting with 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who overcame this year’s two-time Grand Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini in the third round. It will be an interesting first-time clash between Swiatek and Andreeva, who described her game as Swiatek’s in one of her early interviews on the WTA Tour.

Aryna Sabalenka [3] vs. Liudmila Samsonova [10]

Third seed Aryna Sabalenka allowed Elina Svitolina to recover from a 5-3 deficit in the first set but quickly regrouped, breaking the Ukrainian again to ultimately secure a 7-5 6-2 victory, continuing her Cincinnati campaign without dropping a set. The three-time Cincy semifinalist’s next challenge will be against tenth seed Liudmila Samsonova, who rallied from a set down to defeat Elina Avanesyan 4-6 6-0 6-3. Samsonova holds a 2-1 lead in their head-to-head, including a victory over Sabalenka on the hard courts of Montreal last year.

Jessica Pegula [6] vs. Leylah Fernandez

Fresh off her National Bank Open title in…

Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the third set to defeat American Coco Gauff for the first time in their four meetings, upsetting the defending champion 6-4 2-6 6-4 in the second round of the Cincinnati Open.

Returning to action this week after reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon, where she ousted world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, world No.34 Putintseva came from a set down to defeat Great Britain’s Harriet Dart in the opening round, then won four consecutive games in the third set against Gauff to secure her 13th career Top 10 victory. The second-seeded Gauff, who also suffered an early exit at the Canadian Open last week, committed 50 unforced errors, including nine double faults, as she lost her opening match in Cincinnati, where she became the youngest champion last year before going on to win her maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open.

Putintseva’s third-round opponent will be Washington D.C. champion Paula Badosa, who cruised past Anna Kalinskaya 6-3 6-2 earlier on Thursday.

While Putintseva delighted Kazakhstan, her compatriot Elena Rybakina endured a frustrating defeat to Leylah Fernandez, squandering two match points and committing a slew of errors. The fourth-seeded Rybakina, playing her first match since the Wimbledon semifinals, struggled…

The USTA revealed the recipients of the women’s singles main draw wildcards for the 2024 US Open. The list is headlined by four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu, and a group of American players including McCartney Kessler, Amanda Anisimova, Alexa Noel, and Iva Jovic. Additionally, France’s Chloe Paquet and Australia’s Taylah Preston have been granted wildcards through reciprocal agreements.

Former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka, who claimed two of her four Grand Slam titles at the US Open in 2018 and 2020, made her return to the court in January after giving birth to her daughter. Despite successfully breaking back into the WTA Top 100, Osaka acknowledges that she is still adjusting postpartum and that playing tennis doesn’t feel as natural as it once did.

Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 US Open champion, is currently ranked No. 166. The 24-year-old returned to the court earlier this year after a nine-month absence due to a back injury. In her first event back, she made it to the third round at Roland Garros and, in June, reached her first WTA final in nearly two years on the grass of the Libema Open.

Amanda Anisimova, 22, secured her wildcard for the US Open by winning the Wildcard Challenge, highlighted by a strong run to the final at…

Naomi Osaka opened up about the unexpected challenges she’s been facing on her return to tennis after giving birth in July last year. The four-time Grand Slam champion, who has always been candid about her struggles both on and off the court, has now shared her deep concerns about how her body has responded to the physical demands of professional tennis following her pregnancy.

Osaka’s post came shortly after she failed to make the main draw of the Cincinnati Open, losing to American Ashlyn Krueger in the second round of qualifying. The disappointment was evident, but what struck a chord with her followers was her honest reflection on the strange and disorienting experience of not feeling like herself on the court. “In a weird way I’ve come to appreciate losses,” she wrote, acknowledging the role they play in the journey of any athlete. However, this time, the losses weren’t just a matter of skill or strategy—they were a sign that something deeper was amiss.

The 26-year-old Osaka expressed that her biggest issue wasn’t simply losing matches, but the unsettling feeling that she no longer feels at home in her own body. She described a disconnection, noting how she’s been missing shots she would typically nail, and how her once-powerful strokes now feel…

Sixth seed and world No.3 Jessica Pegula defended her National Bank Open title with a 6-3 2-6 6-1 victory over Amanda Anisimova in Monday’s all-American final, improving her impressive win-loss record at the tournament to 17-2.

The Buffalo, New York native, who was cheered on by friends, family, and her husband, was especially thrilled to play so close to home—a rare opportunity in her career.

Pegula’s victory marks her sixth WTA singles title and her third at the prestigious WTA 1000 level, adding to her previous triumphs at the National Bank Open in Montreal last year and Guadalajara in 2022. She becomes the first woman to claim back-to-back titles at the National Bank Open since Martina Hingis achieved the feat in 2000.

Facing off against Anisimova, who had been in scintillating form throughout the week, defeating four Top 20 players en route to her first WTA 1000 final, Pegula faced a formidable challenge. The unseeded Anisimova, who entered the tournament ranked No.132, is projected to make a significant leap back into the Top 50 after her impressive run in Toronto. Anisimova, a former French Open semifinalist, started the year ranked outside the Top 350 after an eight-month hiatus in 2023 to focus on her…

The 2024 National Bank Open final in Toronto will be a matchup between two American players: defending champion Jessica Pegula and Amanda Anisimova.

The 22-year-old Amanda Anisimova took a mental health break from competition last season, which caused her WTA ranking to drop outside the Top 350. However, she has made an impressive comeback on the hard-court swing leading up to the US Open. While she played just eleven matches in 2023, she has played ten in the last 16 days, including a quarterfinal run at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, D.C., as a qualifier, and now reaching the final of the National Bank Open.

In an all-American semifinal held under windy conditions in Toronto, Anisimova defeated the eighth seed, Emma Navarro, 6-3 2-6 6-2. The former world No. 21, now ranked No. 132, has taken down four Top 20 players in Toronto, including No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 12 Daria Kasatkina, No. 15 Navarro, and No. 17 Anna Kalinskaya. This remarkable run makes Anisimova the lowest-ranked finalist at the tournament in 40 years and the second-lowest-ranked finalist in a WTA 1000 event since the format’s introduction 15 years ago.

In a showdown between two players born in 2004, Russian Diana Shnaider claimed her first Top 10 victory with a decisive 6-4 6-1 win over US Open champion Coco Gauff in the third round of the National Bank Open in Toronto.

Facing off in challenging, windy conditions, the slightly younger Shnaider broke Gauff’s serve once late in the first set and twice in the second, sealing a commanding victory. Gauff, the tournament’s top seed, struggled with her serve, recording eight double faults and landing only 50% of her first serves. She also managed to win just 19% of her first return points (6/32) and failed to convert the lone break point she earned.

Shnaider, who had successfully transitioned from the clay courts of the Paris Olympics—where she secured a silver medal in women’s doubles alongside Mirra Andreeva—appeared well-prepared for the Toronto event. In contrast, Gauff acknowledged feeling less prepared: “Sometimes I question whether I should have played or not,” Gauff admitted. “But at the end of the day I wanted to test myself and see if I would be able to, how I would do being mentally tired a little bit and physically fatigued.”

Seeded 14th in Toronto, Shnaider now advances to her first WTA 1000…