Aryna Sabalenka beat Jessica Pegula 6-3 7-5 in the final of the Cincinnati Open in their seventh career match to clinch her second title of the 2024 season and the first since the Australian Open.
Pegula was taken to deuce to deuce in her first service games. Sabalenka earned the only break point of the first set in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead.
Sabalenka dropped just four points on her serve and won 70% of her first serve points.
Sabalenka started the second set with an early break in the first game and held serve at love to open up a 2-0 lead.
Sabalenka won four consecutive service games without dropping a point, before Pegula broke back in the 10th game to draw level to 5-5, when Sabalenka was serving for the title. Sabalenka earned her third break in the 11th game to take a 6-5 lead and sealed the win with a hold at 15 after 75 minutes.
Sabalenka ended the match with 29 winners to 23 unforced errors. She won the Cincinnati without dropping a set in her five matches, including her first straight-set win over Iga Swiatek. Sabalenka missed Wimbledon due to injury.
“This trophy means a lot. It is really a big achievement, especially coming after injury, wit this fear of getting injured again. My team did everything they could to make sure I felt as good as I can and I am proud of myself I was able to handle all of those emotions”, said Sabalenka.
Sabalenka claimed her 15th career title and her sixth WTA 1000 title. Only Iga Swiatek and Victoria Azarenka have been more successful winning WTA 1000 titles.
Sabalenka has become the third player to win the title at the Cincinnati Open without dropping a set after Vera Zvonareva in 2006 and Ashleigh Barty in 2021.
Sabalenka will return to number 2 on the WTA Ranking. She will overtake last year’s US Open champion Coco Gauff.
Pegula’s winning streak of nine consecutive matches ended with her defeat in the Cincinnati final. The US player won the National Bank Open title last week. She was bidding to win the first woman in 50 years to win titles in Toronto and Cincinnati in the same season. She became the third uS player in the Open Era to reach the finals at both tournaments following Serena Williams and Rosie Casals.