Belarusian tennis star Aryna Sabalenka, 26, defeated American Jessica Pegula in straight sets to win her first-ever Cincinnati Open. The win gives Sabalenka two titles this season with the other being the Australian Open.
Aryna Sabalenka did not drop a set the entire week in Cincinnati. She had plenty of momentum coming into the final after defeating World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in straight sets in the semifinals. Despite defending her title and winning the first Grand Slam of the year in Melbourne, Sabalenka had up-and-down performances the rest of the season. A shoulder injury contributed to her issues, but she looks healthy and ready to take on the US Open field in pursuit of her first-ever US Open title.
Aryna Sabalenka is now the US Open favorite
The Cincinnati Open WTA 1000 win makes Aryna Sabalenka the favorite to win the US Open. She has come so close to winning in New York in previous years. Sabalenka is a two-time semifinalist (2021 and 2022) and the finalist last year coming up short against Coco Gauff.
She is the best women’s hardcourt player in tennis right now. The confidence from this win will allow her to continue her US Open preparations knowing that her game is in the best possible place it can be.
Sabalenka’s mentally and physically challenging year
In addition to the shoulder injury that kept her out of Wimbledon, Aryna Sabalenka’s season was also marred by the suicide of her ex-boyfriend, Belarusian hockey player Konstantin Koltsov in Miami hours before the Miami Open began. She soldiered on, wearing black and a baseball cap to shield her grief. Sabalenka also got special permission from the WTA to not speak to the media in Miami.
Her ranking has also fallen to World No. 3, relinquishing World No. 2 to Coco Gauff.
Her competition is struggling while she is surging
The tennis season is 11 months long. It is possible to weather a lot of peaks and valleys during that time. Losing form and confidence are difficult to overcome, but Sabalenka has done it. Her main opponents have not.
Iga Swiatek is struggling mentally and physically. She recently spoke out about the length of the tennis season. Keeping the World No. 1 ranking with everyone coming after you and not having much downtime to rest is very hard. Coco Gauff is also going through a tough time. It was going to be extremely difficult for her to duplicate the results of her amazing 2023 “Summer of Coco” without the extra rigor of the Paris Olympics. Elena Rybakina has struggled to physically stay healthy. She has gotten ill while traveling. Rybakina has not been able to put together a dominant performance through multiple rounds of a tournament for months.
It is worth noting that Sabalenka is the only player of the four who opted out of the Paris Olympics. She focused on the US hardcourt warmup tournaments.
Women’s Tennis is Hard to Predict
Though Sabalenka has a red-hot game and momentum, women’s tennis is so difficult to predict. Three different women won Grand Slams this year. Though Jessica Pegula had injury issues this year, she also has come out strong in the hardcourt season, winning the Canadian Open last week.
If she keeps a choke hold on her serve and continues the deep and powerful shotmaking, Sabalenka is tough to beat. She could be the only woman who wins two Grand Slams this year. (Iga Swiatek won the French Open, and Barbora Krejcikova won Wimbledon.)
US Open Details
Qualifying matches are already underway for the 2024 US Open. The 128-player tournament draw will be revealed on Thursday, August 22. Match play begins on Monday, August 26. ESPN will cover all of the match play in New York.
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