The semifinals are set at the Cincinnati Open, with top seed Iga Swiatek taking on third seed Aryna Sabalenka, while sixth seed Jessica Pegula will face the unseeded Paula Badosa.
In Saturday’s first quarterfinal, Swiatek edged past 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva in a gripping 4-6 6-3 7-5 battle—their first-ever meeting. Andreeva showed remarkable composure in the windy conditions, breaking Swiatek at 1-1 and maintaining her lead throughout the first set, saving two break points in both the sixth and tenth games. Forced to raise her level, Swiatek responded by breaking Andreeva’s serve early in the second set and remained dominant until the final game, where she faced her only break point. Andreeva had a chance to push the third set to a tiebreak, but her backhand return missed the mark, allowing Swiatek to seal the 2-hour, 30-minute victory shortly after.
In contrast, Sabalenka sailed past Liudmila Samsonova 6-3 6-2, setting up her 12th career showdown with Swiatek, whom she trails 3-8 in their head-to-head encounters.
Fresh off a successful title defense at the Canadian Open in Toronto, Pegula extended her winning streak to eight matches with a hard-fought 7-5 6-7(1) 7-6(3) victory over Leylah Fernandez. The first set was a rollercoaster, featuring seven consecutive breaks of serve, with Pegula finally breaking the streak and consolidating her last break with a love hold to secure the set. In the second set, Pegula saw a 4-0 lead slip away as Fernandez rallied to take the set in a tiebreak. The final set saw Fernandez recover from a break down at 0-3, but Pegula ultimately prevailed in the tiebreak, converting her third match point to clinch the win.
Pegula will face a resurgent Paula Badosa in Sunday’s semifinal. Badosa powered past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3 6-2 to reach her first WTA 1000 semifinal since the 2022 Indian Wells and her second semifinal this summer in the U.S., following her title win earlier this month in Washington, D.C.
