Iga Świątek and Jessica Pegula battle to Cincinnati Open semifinals
By Issy Ronald, CNN
(CNN) — Iga Świątek and Jessica Pegula headline the Cincinnati Open semifinals on Sunday after they battled through their respective quarterfinals.
Facing 17-year-old rising star Mirra Andreeva, Świątek overturned a one set deficit to eventually earn a 4-6 6-3 7-5 victory and book her spot in a semifinal against longtime rival Aryna Sabalenka.
Meanwhile, American Pegula defeated Leylah Fernandez in an epic 7-5 6-7 (7-1) 7-6 (7-3) match to set up a semifinal against Spain’s Paula Badosa.
While Pegula and Badosa have only faced each other twice, Świątek and Sabalenka are familiar opponents to one another, constantly dueling for grand slam and WTA 1000 titles.
Hard-fought quarterfinal wins
Andreeva produced a brilliant first set in her match, breaking Świątek early on and refusing to let the Pole convert any of her own break points, unleashing shots like a powerful forehand winner down the line to save them.
An ace from Andreeva sealed the first set but Świątek showed the composure that has made her the dominant player on the circuit by immediately breaking the young Russian in her first service game of the second set.
The Olympic bronze medalist didn’t even face another break point until the final game of the match when Andreeva had an opportunity to push it into a deciding tiebreak but her backhand was long and Świątek sealed the win shortly afterward.
“It was a tough match, in the third set it got really tight,” Świątek told reporters afterward. “The first set was tight too, I lost my serve at the beginning and wasn’t able to break back so it was a really intense one.”
Sabalenka enjoyed a more straightforward quarterfinal win, defeating Liudmila Samsonova 6-3 6-2.
On the other side of the draw, Pegula fought for more than three hours to defeat Fernandez as the last two sets were decided by tiebreaks, though more because both players struggled to hold their serves.
There were seven consecutive breaks in the first set until Pegula held in the final game to take the lead. Buoyed by this, she took a 4-0 lead in the second but Fernandez launched an improbable comeback to win five consecutive games and drag it to a deciding tiebreak.
The Canadian leveled the game and once again came back in the third set to save three match points and send it to another tiebreak but she could not find enough to defeat Pegula.
“It was a mental battle today, definitiely,” Pegula told the Tennis Channel afterward. “It was very up and down, first and second set … I was able to tough it out in the end.”
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