Aryna Sabalenka in action© AFP
Aryna Sabalenka squandered nine match points but defeated world number one Iga Swiatek 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday, breaking through to her first final at the WTA and ATP Cincinnati Open. Four-time Cincinnati semi-finalist Sabalenka will rise to second in the WTA rankings with a week to go before the start of the US Open. "I finally broke the barrier," Sabalenka said of her place in the final. "It was such a tough battle with Iga, and we also had to be patient with the weather."
Raindrops required the court lines to be dried by towels during several short interruptions.
Sabalenka will play Monday's final against US sixth seed Jessica Pegula, a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 winner over Spain's Paula Badosa.
Pegula, who won last week's Toronto title, is the third American in the Open Era to reach the Canadian and Cincinnati finals in the same year after Rosie Casals (1970) and Serena Williams (2013).
Sabalenka had a battle on her hands to close out her win, with Swiatek putting up a huge battle in the closing stages.
Third-ranked Sabalenka led 5-1 in the second set but Swiatek showed why she is ranked atop the WTA table as she repeatedly saved match-winners from her opponent.
Sabalenka was broken for 5-3 but finally claimed the hard-fought victory a game later with a concluding break of Swiatek on a return winner on her 10th match point after nearly two hours.
"That was a brilliant performance from me. I'm really happy with the win, especially against Iga," said Sabalenka.
"We always have tough battles and get this win in straight sets... that's kind of like achievement for me."
Pegula and Badosa were hit by a rain delay of well over an hour midway through the second set with Badosa leading 4-3 and trailing a set.
They resumed with the Spaniard forcing a third set before Pegula broke for 5-3 in the third and served out victory a game later.
"We had tough conditions, but I was able to not get frustrated with the rain delay," Pegula said. "I felt I was playing and competing well.
"Paula was hitting so hard, I didn't know what to do sometimes. I had to remind myself to be aggressive and serve well. I knew it would be hard to break her.
"But I played a couple of good points and was able to serve it out."
Pegula said she expects to give Sabalenka "some trouble" in the final.
"It will be a good test to go up against her," Pegula said. "I'll do my best. It has been a long couple of weeks."
Swiatek 'wasn't good'
Sabalenka's victory served as revenge after losing to Swiatek in Masters-level clay finals at Madrid and Rome last spring.
"Aryna was just playing better today and using her advantages," Swiatek said. "I didn't serve well at the beginning, which threw me off my rhythm. For sure, it wasn't a good performance for me."
Swiatek she played overall better than she expected, adding, "I'm happy with the result anyway. I'm already kind of focusing on what I need to do to feel even better in New York. And we'll work on stuff for sure."