World No. 3 Jessica Pegula on Thursday survived a stirring fightback from Amanda Anisimova to win 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7/4) and reach the Cincinnati Open semi-finals, while Iga Swiatek also advanced when Elena Rybakina retired injured.
World No. 2 Rybakina retired in the first set with an ankle problem in a setback to her preparations for the US Open Grand Slam, which is to begin on Aug. 30.
Pegula took the opening set in 34 minutes, but ninth-seeded Anisimova hit back hard to claim the second, breaking early for a 3-0 lead before Pegula took a medical timeout.
Photo: AFP
American Pegula squandered a 5-3 advantage in the decider, but prevailed in the tiebreak to set up a meeting with Swiatek, who extended her winning run to 10 matches when Rybakina retired while trailing 4-1 in the opening set.
Swiatek raced into a 3-0 lead before Rybakina got on the board, but the Kazakh was unable to halt Swiatek’s momentum and called for a medical timeout before ending the match.
The pair had also met in last week’s Toronto final, with Swiatek beating Rybakina in straight sets to claim the Canadian Open title.
Photo: Aaron Doster / Imagn Images
“I hope Elena will be fine and obviously the next tournament is the priority,” Swiatek said. “I know this one is important as well, but the US Open is the US Open, and I hope she’ll be ready for it. I thought we were playing a good game, but health is a priority.”
In the men’s draw, seventh-seeded Flavio Cobolli recovered from a sluggish start to beat home favorite Tommy Paul 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 and reach his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final.
Cobolli, who became only the second Italian to reach the men’s last four in Cincinnati after Jannik Sinner, asked for a tub of M&M’s while leading 5-2 in the second set, later crediting the snack with giving him fresh energy.
Photo: Aaron Doster / Imagn Images
“I felt a little bit tired and I needed some energy, some sugar, and I love M&M’s,” he said. “Chocolate with colors makes me happy.”
Cobolli broke to move 5-4 ahead in the deciding set before serving out the match in 1 hour, 57 minutes.
He faces Arthur Fils after the Frenchman swept past Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante 6-3, 6-2.
Frenchman Fils broke serve to move 5-3 ahead before wrapping up the opening set and broke twice more in the second, racing to a 5-1 lead and closing out the match in 64 minutes.
In the women’s doubles at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Kristina Mladenovic of France and China’s Guo Hanyu 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the semi-finals.
They were to play Alexandra Panova of Russia and Magali Kempen of Belgium after press time last night.
The Russian-Belgian pair on Thursday eliminated Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Maya Joint of Australia 1-6, 6-4, 10-2 in the quarters of the US$9,415,725 tournament.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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