Aryna Sabalenka gets past Jessica Pegula in straight sets to end 7-month title drought in Cincinnati Open

Aryna Sabalenka secures her first title since January's Australian Open, after falling short in her last two Masters 1000 finals.

Aryna Sabalenka gets past Jessica Pegula in straight sets to end 7-month title drought in Cincinnati Open

Aryna Sabalenka (via Imago)

On Monday (August 19), World No.3 Aryna Sabalenka secured the sixth singles Masters 1000 title of her career with a comfortable straight-sets win over Jessica Pegula. It was her first title since winning the Australian Open in January.

The third seed, who reached the final after a straight-set demolition of top seed Iga Swiatek, was comfortable from start to finish in her campaign. The 26-year-old claimed her 15th WTA career title overall.

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Sabalenka came to Cincinnati after a turbulent season despite her Australian Open win. The Belarusian lost her first two Masters 1000 finals to Swiatek and missed both Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics.

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However, the Cincinnati title will give her a lot of confidence ahead of the US Open. On the other hand, Pegula was looking to become only the second woman after Evonne Goolagong Cawley to sweep the Canadian Open and Cincinnati in the same season.

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Aryna Sabalenka had a dominant run at the Cincinnati Open

Aryna Sabalenka dispatched Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-5 to win the Cincinnati Open on Monday. This is her first Masters 1000 title of the season after finishing as the runner-up to Iga Swiatek in the Madrid Open and Italian Open finals.

Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Sabalenka (Image via X)

Sabalenka ended her title drought with a dominant performance in Cincinnati, displaying the same calm and confident demeanor she had when she claimed her first Australian Open title two years ago. Post-match, she gave answers on what was different in claiming the Cincinnati title after a lean patch of performances this year.

I think I was really emotional in Washington and Toronto coming back after after injury. I was overreacting, and I just stepped back and realized that I played my great tennis when I was calm and confident, that no matter what's what's going on the court, I'll be able to keep fighting and keep trying my best no matter what the score, what the situation is.
Aryna Sabalenka said (H/T: WTA)

Sabalenka reached the final without dropping a set, and that momentum helped her take the initiative against Pegula. The former World No.1 broke the American in the sixth game, which proved decisive in securing the first-set win.

In the second set, Sabalenka broke Pegula in the first game. After that, the former World No.1 dominated on serve until when she was serving for the match. Pegula broke back and seemed to get her home crowd involved.

However, Sabalenka broke right back after that. The third seed closed out the match on the second time, asking to win her second title of the season.

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