Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek are longtime rivals. In their 14th meeting, the Belarusian sent a strong message by dominating the world’s top-ranked player in the Cincinnati Open semifinal.
After experiencing some health issues, Aryna returned to the Tour at the beginning of the month. It appears that she is in the best physical shape yet because she advanced to the North American tournament final without dropping a set to her opponents.
Speaking after the challenge against Swiatek, Sabalenka made the important statement that this victory is now relegated to the past. She is already concentrating on the US Open and the Cincinnati final.
She expressed her thoughts about it and said: “It was a brilliant performance from me. But I just want to focus on staying in the moment and giving my best tennis every time I’m on the court. I try to stay calm, confident and aggressive on the court. That definitely gave me a lot of confidence, going into the US Open. But that’s already in the past, if I focus on this win, it’ll stay in the past. I’m really happy with the win.”
She explained further: “I kept telling myself: She’s the world No. 1. She’s going to keep fighting and doing her best. You have to stay aggressive. You have to put pressure on her. You have to play your tennis and try. That was my mentality in the tough moments. That was definitely the toughest moment of the match. When I’m in the zone, what thoughts do I have? There are no thoughts. Just about the tennis. About the next ball coming. Just about hitting and trying to make the right decisions. You have nothing in your head.”
Sabalenka d. Swiatek 6-3 6-3 in Cincinnati
10 match points later.
Aryna had to work for this til the very last point.
✅5th win over a world #1
✅4th top 10 win of the year
✅9th WTA 1000 finalConfidence growing.
Aryna roaring into another final.
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) August 18, 2024
Sabalenka in Cincinnati, ranking, and results in 2024
LWWWWWWWLW At the moment ranked no.3, the Belarussian achieved a compiled 38-11 match record in 2024. Sabalenka is now playing in Cincinnati where she bested Unknown Player bye, the world no.66 Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-3 6-4, the world no.30 Elina Svitolina 7-5 6-2, the world no.17 Liudmila Samsonova 6-3 6-2 and the world no.1 Iga Swiatek 6-3 6-3.
Aryna Sabalenka will square off with the world no.263 Petra Kvitova in the final on Saturday at 6:00 pm on CENTRE COURT. Their head to head is 3-2 for Kvitova.
Aryna clinched 1 title in 2024 at the Australian Open. Sabalenka reached the final in Brisbane (Brisbane International), in Madrid (Mutua Madrid Open) and in Rome (Internazionali BNL d’Italia).
Aryna won 14 titles in her career: 10 on hard courts, 2 on clay courts and 2 on indoor courts. (See the list of her titles)
Iga Swiatek in 2024
WLWLWWWWLW Now the world no.1, Swiatek played her last match on the 18th of August when she was overcome by world no.3 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3 6-3 in the semifinal in Cincinnati (draw).
This season the Pole has a composed 55-7 match record. Swiatek conquered 6 titles in 2024 in Australia, Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid, Rome and French Open.
Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek played each other 12 times. The head to head is 8-4 for Swiatek. Before, the last time they locked horns, Aryna Sabalenka won 6-3 6-3 in the semifinal in Cincinnati (Western & Southern Open) on the 18th of August 2024.
Here are the highlights.
Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek |
| Embed from Getty Images |
