Top seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek moved to the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 Cincinnati open on a rain break on Wednesday in Mason, Ohio, but 6th sowed Madison Keys and No. 12 Seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in Elelena and Velena and Annena and Annena and Annena and Annena and Annena and Annena and Annenkins and Annenkins and Annenkins and Annenkins and Anna Balins and Anna Balins and Anna Balins and Anna Balins and Anna Balins and Anna Bakins and Annawins and Anna’s and Anna Bakins and Anna Bakins and Annaw.
I have a number of goals, but if we play for 11 months, you don’t know what will happen in a few months. So I try to look at the first part of the year and then switch to the second. Split it, because if I start thinking and thinking about the next 11 months in a wider horizon, I will be tired after a week that the season is so long. Iga świątek
There were two other victims on day 8, in the 3rd round matches held from Tuesday evening due to heavy rain, because World No 4 Jessica Pegula and Clara Tauson, the 16th seed, not past Magda Linette, the no. 31 seed, and Veronica Kendermetova, who disturbed them in 3 sets, did not come on Wednesday.
Sabalenka was brought to 3 sets in her previous game with Emma Raducanu in Great Britain, but beat Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, 6-1 7-5, to win her season-in-depth 50th match of 2025, while making her 29th career last 8 performance at the Elite 1000 level.
De Belarus had to work after giving up a second break, but then Bouzas Maleiro broke into the last game to seal the victory in an hour and 21 minutes.
“The key was to concentrate and exert as much pressure as possible on her serve,” said Sabalenka. “I was a break, made a few mistakes and she broke back. I am happy to win in straight sets – I didn’t want to stay three hours [again]. “
After a relatively routine first set, however, nothing easily came for Sabalenka in the second, after using an early break to take a 4-2 lead and be on the way to a simple victory before Bouzas Maneiro won 3 consecutive games to continue in the second set.
The Spaniard received within 2 points of winning the set and forcing a decision maker before Sabalenka rediscovered the form that she had at the start of the game.
“Jessica is a great player,” said Sabalenka after the game. “I knew that I came in the night, that I had to work for every point. She didn’t start well in the beginning, but then she found her rhythm and it was really a tough battle.”
Elena Rybakina stood Madison Keys Van Streek, no. 6 seeds, where the loss she ran to the American in the Australian Open, avenge
© Matthew Stockman/Getty images
Sabalenka, who is the defending champion in Cincy after beating Pegula in the final last year, 6-3 7-5, will compete against Rybakina for a place in the semi-final.
The Kazakh won a 3-set thriller to make keys to the region, 6-7 (3) 6-4 6-2, after a 26-minute battle of 2 hours to continue to her 2nd career Cincinnati Open quarter finals, while they nif-head nive in 3 victories per piece.
After a series of near-missions this season, it was only a matter of time before Rybakina scored a statement victory in 2025, and she did this due to her loss of keys at the Australian Open earlier this year in 3 sets.
Rybakina claimed the victory this time and in the process she has only been the 2nd top 10 player since 1990 to claim 3 Come-Back victories on the way to a WTA 1000 quarter final.
The upset victory over Keys is Rybakina’s 2nd top 10 win of the year, after he has come out of a set to beat Paula Badosa, and she will get another chance if she faces Sabalenka in the fifteen minutes.
While Rybakina comes from a big victory, it is Sabalenka who has the lead in their rivalry, the series 7-4 and their most recent meeting earlier this year in Berlin, 7-6 (6) 3-6 7-6 (6), wins to reach the semi-finale on the grass.
In anticipation of Friday’s quarterfinals, Rybakina can just give a lead, because neither has won twice in a row in the last 6 games of this series.
World No 3 Iga Swiatek improved to 5-0 against Sorana Cirstea with a straight-set victory in the Cincinnati Open 4th round and continued to her 11th quarter finals of the year
© Matthew Stockman/Getty images
Earlier on Wednesday, Swiatek, the 3rd seed, went on to her 3rd straight Cincy quarterfinals with a free routine 6-4 6-3 victory over Sorana Cirstea in an hour and 35 minutes, which improved her record against the Romanian to 5-0 in general.
The 24-year-old pole has now won 10 consecutive sets against Cirstea, and the only opportunity to which Romanian managed to take the distance, was in their first meeting on the Australian Open 2022, which won the former World No 1, 5-7 6-3 6-3.
Cincinnati is one of only 3 WTA 1000 events on the current calendar that Swiatek played without reaching the final, while she has been a semi-finalist here in the last 2 years and last year fell to Coco Gauff in Coco Gauff.
The current world no. 3 made a lightning -fast start of the game and insisted 3 clean winners on their way to a quick break, a lead that she gave for the rest of the first set.
A few double mistakes from Cirstea also gave the post an immediate lead in the second, but Swiatek has repaid the favor with two of her own in the subsequent match.
Cincinnati temperatures absenteeism in particular had an influence on the energy levels, because both players were clearly wilted in the humid heat.
The change in pace made the path less easy for Swiateek, who lost 2 games in a row, because Cirstea got a spark of hope after a backlog of 1-4.
Swiatek, but was able to keep her nose in front and closed her first match point with a Forehand winner, her 24th of the day, compared to Cirstea’s 9.
“We played many tough matches, so I know that Sorana can really get the ball – especially on faster surfaces,” she then said on the field, after she had not overcome 33 – forced errors. “So I was ready.
“I am glad I was solid enough. I tried to be proactive with my serve – not much of my first portions went inside, but I was glad I was solid on my second portions.
“I wanted to be more solid in my last game. I am happy with the level of my focus and consistency.”
Speaking of more of her goals before the end of the season, the Wimbledon champion added: “I have some goals, but when we play for 11 months, you don’t know what will happen in a few months.
“So I try to look at the first part of the year and switch to the second one.
“It split it, because if I start thinking and thinking about the next 11 months in a wider horizon, I will be tired after a week that the season is so long.”
Swiatek is then confronted with the No. 28 Seed Anna Kalinskaya, who beyond her Russian countryman, 12th placed Ekaterina Alexandrova, 3-6 7-6 (5) 6-1, after a 16-minute screen of 16 minutes.
Anna Kalinskaya passed her countryman, 12th placed Ekaterina Alexandrova, after a 16 -minute screen to set up a quarter -final meeting with Iga Swiateek
Wtatennis.com
Kalinskaya came from a set to disturb Alexandrova in the 4th round and continued to her 4th career quarterfinals at WTA 1000 level or higher, and her first since Dubai 2024.
Alexandrova had won all 6 of the earlier encounters of the couple who go back to 2017.
Play in the round behind, in one of the two games interrupted by thunderstorms on Tuesday, Swiatek’s Polish countryman, Magda Linette, reached the last 16 in Cincinnati in Cincinnati with a 7-6 (5) 3-6 6-3 region of 4th-Seded Jessica Pegula, the American a 4th loss in her last competition.
During last year’s North American Swing, Pegula went 15-2 in one piece in which she saw her first Grand Slam-Singles final at the US Open, but things look very different this year.
A year after winning the National Bank Open in Canada and ending as second at the Cincinnati Open, Pegula has now only gone 2-2 in her return to those events.
With a new decision maker to start, Linette shook a few early double mistakes to hold and then assured the only break in the 8th game to prevail, the 33-year-old pole that saved all 3 breaking points that she had played during the last set that was played on Wednesday.
For Linette, both top 10 victories are ranked against Americans in the top 5 this season, after they had previously not brought down 3 Coco Gauff in the 4th round of the Miami Open to equalize her best career WTA 1000 result.
The pole can do the same this week if she goes beyond Veronika Kudermetova, after the Russian, the no. 16 seed, Clara Tauson from Denmark, 3-6 7-6 (4) 6-4, upset 47 minutes in 2 hours.
Veronika Kudermetova stroked Clara Tauson, the 16th seed, in 3 sets in their match on Tuesday and will meet Magda Linette for a place in the quarterfinals on Thursday
© Matthew Stockman/Getty images
Kudermetova escaped Tauson from 6-3, 2-0 down and navigated two long rain restrictions on Wednesday to remove the DANE in the 3rd round and scored her 6th Top 20 victory of 2025.
As far as Pegula is concerned, one of the most consistent and reliable players on tour in recent years, she seems to consider when she puts her racket and the next chapter of her life will begin.
On the Tennis Insider Club podcast Organized by former world no. 4 Caroline Garcia, the 31-year-old says that she is not going to play tennis when she is 35 years old, and the Olympic Summer Games 2028 in Los Angeles as her potential Swan song out.
“I will certainly not play at the age of 35,” said the World No 4, which became a professional in 2009. “Absolutely not. I think I should definitely stop there. I think it would be cool to try to make the Olympic Games make sure it is in LA in a few years.
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