World No 3 Iga Swiatek survived a second set-back from Anastasia Potapova to start her Cincinnati Open campaign from 2025 with a major victory, which became a member of Amanda Anisimova, Madison Keys and Elena Rybakina in the 3rd round of the WTA 100-Event.
I think I played well if it mattered. I think I served very well at the end, and that was huge. I felt that there were times when I didn’t make the best decisions, but that’s life. I am really happy that I was able to sort it out in one way or another and win the victory. Madison tests
Swiatek ran through the first set in less than 30 minutes, only one game dropped in the process and seemed to make the light of her Russian opponent, ranked 45, who then set more resistance in the second and to have the 24-year-old pile work for her victory over the Cincy Center Court before getting a last 32 meeting against Marta Costyuk.
“I really wanted to be solid, but on the other hand quite intense, and it was a bit up and down in the second set,” Swiatek said afterwards. “But at important moments I got my level and I could close it.
“So yes, sure, you know, the first game in every tournament is always difficult, and I’m glad I will play the chance to play another here.”
The post is a dual semi-finalist in Cincy, in 2023 and 2024, but it is one of only two WTA 1000 events that have escaped her so far, without reaching the final, together with the Canadian open while she still has to play in Wuhan.
Swiatek also took the time to praise the renovations that have done the Lindner family Tennis Center since last year’s event, and told her that it enabled her to prepare better for the competition.
“It’s great to be back here, you know, especially coming back for much, much better facilities and everything is new, so I really enjoy it,” she said. “It helps, because you can relax even before the game, there is no noise and too many people in one place. So it’s certainly good for someone like me, who finds it a bit quiet and to create my own space.
“So yes, I certainly think this tournament needed it, and I’m glad they made so great work, only in a year to build all these facilities, because I have never seen anything like that, and it’s just great.”
On Saturday, Anastasia Potapova succeeded in winning 5 more games than in her previous meeting with Iga Swiatek, when the 6-way Grand Slam champion her double bagel
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The last time that Swiatek played Potapova, it was a 40-minute money laundering with double bagel in the 4th round of Roland Garros 2024, and the Russian was determined to have more impact on this occasion, which succeed in extending the loss to 73 minutes.
Swiatek proved a link when it really mattered and saved 4 of the 5 breaking points that was confronted with, including 3 when she served before the match, while the result extended her winning series in opening matches of WTA tournaments up to 64 consecutive.
The last player to achieve this was Monica Seles between Washington 1990 and Oakland 1996, while they are also bound with 29 consecutive opening profit in Tier I/WTA 1000 events.
Since 1990, the only player with a longer line of Martina Hingis, who won 39 in a row between Rome 1996 and Montreal 2002, has won.
Swiatek, the newly beaten Wimbledon champion, is then confronted with Kostyuk, the no. 25 Seed from Ukraine, who supplied a ruthless 51-minute routing of German no. 1 Tatjana Maria, 6-0 6-1.
The pole has to drop another set to Kostyuk in 4 previous meetings.
6th Seed Madison Keys saved herself from the defeat with her serving against Eva Lys in the Lindner Family Tennis Center on Saturday
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In the meantime, Australian Open Champion Madison Keys had to fight back this season from the Brink and starting possible defeat against German No. 3, Eva Lys, 1-6 6-3 7-6 (1), in her opening match.
“I think I’m black,” Keys joked afterwards. “I just tried to win the point immediately for me.”
Keys have passed countless momentum shifts in her return to Cincy on Saturday, gathering from 0-3 down in the decisive set and roaring back from 2 match points down after serving the game at 5-4.
“I think it was just one of those days where none of us played great at the same time, but we both continued to find a bit,” Keys explained. “I feel that, sometimes, that’s just a tennis match. You were not both raised your level at the same time, and that happened a bit a bit today. I also thought we both played very well at times.”
A champion in Cincinnati in 2019, Keys indeed saved her best tennis for the last time, and was only 1 point to Lys van Match Point down to walk through the last set of Tiebreak and safe victory in 2 hours and 12 minutes on the stands court.
“I think I played well if it mattered,” said Keys. “I think I served very well at the end, and that was huge. I felt that there were times when I didn’t make the best decisions, but that is life. I am really happy that I was able to sort it out somehow and win the victory.”
Keys passed 71 casual mistakes, against her 29 winners, but managed to firing 12 aces, most of them in crucial situations, while she had a 99-96 lead, and Lys actually ended with another service break, 5-4.
On Monday, Keys will play a 3rd round match against qualifying AOI ITO, a 24-year-old from Japan ranked no. 94, who has an unconventional style and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the no. 27 from Russia, 6-1 4-6 6-4.
Jessica Bouzas Maneiro continued her good run with a straight set up the victory against Leylah Fernandez, no. 21 Seed, in Cincy, one of the 6 seeds that are knocked over on Saturday
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Jessica Bouzas Maneiro continued her hot run and defeated no. 21 seed Leylah Fernandez from Canada, 6-3 6-3, in 81 minutes.
The 22-year-old from Spain reached the quarterfinals a week ago in Montreal and has now won 6 of her last 7 games.
Bouzas Maleiro, who won 23 of her first firsts serving points, also played a solid 1st round match against Wildcard and 7 times Grand SLAM champion Venus Williams.
Fernandez made a splash and won the title in Washington, DC, but lost her opening match in Montreal in Maya Joint of Australia, which also improved in Cincy with a 6-4 4-6 6-4 upset victory against Beatriz Haddad Maia, the 18th seed from Brazil.
Joint steps to meet Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 12th placed Russian, who defeated Lulu Sun from New Zealand, 6-4 6-2, in 74 minutes.
Taylor Townsend is the world NR.
Admittedly a wildcard in the main table in Cincinnati, she was a definitive 6-2 6-4 winner over 13th seed Liudmila Samsonova from Russia, a victory that came after she reached the quarterfinals in the Mubadala Citi DC open where she lost to Fernandez.
Elena Rybakina, the 9th seed, moisture against Renata Zarazua in 3 sets on day 3 of the Cincinnati open and compete against Elise Mertens in the last 32
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In their first meeting, 9th placed Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan gathered to beat the Renata Zarazua of Mexico, 4-6 6-0 7-5.
Rybakina, who fired 14 Aads, won 40 of her 50 First-Serve points and saved 7 of the 8 breaking points against her, ending 2 hours and 21 minutes to score her opening profit.
She now has a 20-4 record against opponents who are outside the top 50 this year, while this is her 6th performance in Cincy, where her best show came 3 years ago when she reached the quarterfinals.
On Monday, Rybakina Elise Mertens, the 19th seed from Belgium, who finally prevailed against the 19-year-old American qualifying Clervie Ngounoue, 3-6 7-6 (3) 7-5, after 2 hours and 37 minutes.
Mertens led 4-1 in the second set and 4-2 in the third, but was tackled both times to 5-5 before he pulled through it.
Amanda Anisimova, who has now had almost a month to think about her heavy defeat against Swiatek in the Wimbledon -Final, recaptured the form that brought her to the champion match in the last 16 on the Canadian Open last week, where she fell to Elina Svitolina.
Now she has arrived in the last 32 in Cincy via a walk-over, supplied by the French qualification Leolia Jeerainean, where she is waiting for Anna Kalinskaya.
The Russian 28th seed came down from a sawing match against the American Peyton Stearns, 7-6 (4) 4-6 6-1, from 2-5, and saving a set point to win the first set.
In a day full of upsets, lucky loser yuan yuan from China added another, defeating no 14 Seed Diana Shnaider from Russia, 6-4 1-6 6-3, to advance to a 3rd-round meeting with Romania’s Sorana Fartdalena, 7) 7) 2-6 6-4, After winning the first set from 3-5 down and the third from 1-3 down.
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