Top-ranked Jannik Sinner and women’s No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka both won their first titles at the Cincinnati Open on Monday with straight-set victories.
Sabalenka defeated Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-5, earning her first title since the Australian Open in January.
Sinner, who turned 23 on Friday, beat American Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (4), 6-2 to become the youngest Cincinnati champion since Andy Murray, who was 21 when he won in 2008.
“I’m very happy to be in the position where I am,” Sinner said. “I’m just trying to keep going this way mentally. It’s important to recover to be ready for New York. That’s the most important thing.”
The U.S. Open begins on August 26 in New York.
Sinner and Tiafoe were both playing in their first Cincinnati finals, with their previous best results being reaching the third round.
Tiafoe pushed the first set to a tiebreak but made three straight errors, leading to a 7-6 loss. In the second set, Sinner was ahead 5-1 before Tiafoe saved three match points to make it 5-2, but Sinner held on to win.
Tiafoe’s route to the final was unusual. He won the first set in the quarterfinals on Saturday before Hubert Hurkacz retired with a calf injury and then saved two match points to defeat Holger Rune in the semifinals.
An American man has not won the Cincinnati title since Andy Roddick in 2006.
Sabalenka moved up to No. 2 in the rankings before the match and didn’t lose a set on her way to her 15th WTA title. She had never gone past the semifinals at Cincinnati, losing three times in that round.
The 26-year-old Sabalenka is now a strong contender for the U.S. Open. She missed Wimbledon due to a shoulder injury but returned to the tour in Washington two weeks ago.
“I would say that I’m really playing great tennis,” Sabalenka said. “Probably not the best tennis I can play but I’m definitely getting there. Hopefully at the U.S. Open I can reach even higher levels.”
Against Pegula, Sabalenka built a 4-1 lead in the first set in just 17 minutes. Pegula, who made five double faults, managed to break serve for the first time and level the second set at 5-5, but Sabalenka won the next two games to finish the match in 1 hour and 14 minutes.
“She was playing at a high level and never really came down,” Pegula said. “When she’s serving really well, it’s tough, especially on these fast courts.”
The sixth-ranked Pegula had a tough path to the final. After defending her title in Toronto, she played two matches on Friday due to weather delays and had three matches go to three sets. Her time on the court was more than two hours longer than Sabalenka’s before the final.
“I’m proving to myself that I can play a lot of matches and overcome a lot of challenges,” Pegula said. “I’m looking forward to not doing anything for a few days.”
Sabalenka joined top-ranked Iga Swiatek as the only players with 10 or more WTA titles since 2020. She defeated Swiatek in the Cincinnati semifinals.
