Six months ago, many were questioning whether Ash Barty was a legitimate world No.1. Due to the pandemic, she hadn’t played a match in nearly a year, with the frozen ranking system maintaining her top spot. But Ash has silenced all those critics with a stellar season. She is 39-7 with four titles, including her second Major singles title at Wimbledon. On Sunday, she faces a stunning story from this week: wild card Jil Teichmann, who had lost nine of her last 12 matches coming into this event.
Speaking of stunning stories, Sascha Zverev was 0-6 lifetime at this tournament prior to this year. But the Olympic gold medalist is 4-0 this year, and currently on a 10-match win streak. He plays for his fifth Masters 1000 title against Andrey Rublev, who earned his first victory over fellow Russian Daniil Medvedev on Saturday.
Each day, this preview will analyze the most intriguing men’s and women’s matchup, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule. Sunday’s play gets underway at 12:00pm local time with the men’s doubles championship match, featuring Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos vs. Steve Johnson and Austin Krajicek. Granollers and Zeballos are four-time Masters champs, while this is the first time the Americans have teamed up since last year’s event, when they reached the semifinals.
Ash Barty (1) vs. Jil Teichmann (WC) – 2:00pm on Center Court
Since losing the first set on Thursday night to Naomi Osaka, Jil Teichmann has been on fire. The 24-year-old Swiss has claimed six straight sets over top 10 seeds: Osaka, Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic, and Wimbledon finalist Karolina Pliskova. In her last two matches alone, the lefty has struck 50 winners and only 19 unforced errors, dictating play against some of the sport’s best. But no one has been better this year than Barty, who is 2,000 points ahead of the entire field in the WTA Race. Even if Teichmann takes a set, she’s facing a player who is 14-2 this season in deciding sets. Also, Ash has taken nine of her last 11 finals. And while Jil is yet to show any signs of nerves this week, she’ll surely feel some in the biggest match of her career against the world No.1. Barty is a significant favorite to win her third WTA 1000 title, all of which have come on American hard courts.
Sascha Zverev (3) vs. Andrey Rublev (4) – Not Before 4:30pm on Center Court
Both men survived grueling, dramatic three-setters on Saturday against the top two seeds. However, Zverev’s battle with Stefanos Tsitsipas was a bit longer, ending in a third-set tiebreak, and concluding about five hours later than Rublev’s. Sascha was also fighting illness during that match, getting sick on the side of the court before mounting a surprising comeback in the third set. The head-to-head between these two friends has not been close. Zverev leads 4-0, and has won all nine sets they’ve contested. Rublev will have to overcome an entirely lopsided rivalry for the second consecutive day in order to win his first Masters title. He’s certainly been enjoying the extremely quick conditions in Cincinnati, but Sascha is currently playing some of the best tennis of his career. His first serve remains a consistent weapon, while his second serve issues of the recent past have faded away. And as Mark Petchey outlined on Tennis Channel, Zverev has been hitting more forehand winners than backhand ones, which is a new improvement in Sascha’s game. While the German has lost four of his last five Masters finals, he still possesses a vast experience edge at this level, as this is just Rublev’s second career 1000-level final. After losing his first six matches at this tournament, Zverev should win his fifth straight match to take the title.
Sunday’s full Order of Play is here.
