Sabalenka sinks Samsonova to reach Cincinnati semi-finals

Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the semi-finals of the Western & Southern Open by beating Liudmila Samsonova 6-3, 6-2 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Cincinnati on Saturday afternoon. Sabalenka surged through the day’s second quarter-final contest in just one hour and 19 minutes.

Sabalenka, ranked No 3, will face world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the next round on Sunday. Swiatek defeated Mirra Andreeva in a tight three-setter earlier on Saturday.

Samsonova had been leading the head-to-head series 2-1 after defeating Sabalenka right around this time last year at the WTA Premier 1000 tournament in Montreal. However, the Russian never came close to replicating that feat in Cincinnati. Sabalenka gained an upper hand for the first time by breaking at 3-2 in the opening set before racing to a 4-0 lead in the second.

The Belarusian did not get broken a single time in the match.

In the previous rounds of this WTA Premier 1000 event, Sabalenka knocks off Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto (6-3, 6-4) and Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (7-5, 6-2).

Samsonova, ranked No 17, defeated China’s Xinyu Wang (6-4, 6-4), Poland’s Magda Linette (7-6 (10), 6-1) and Armenian lucky loser Elina Avanesyan (4-6, 6-0, 6-3) to earn her place in the last eight.

Cincinnati WTA 1000, other last eight results:

• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Paula Badosa
• Jessica Pegula vs. Leylah Fernandez
• Iga Swiatek beat Mirra Andreeva: 4-6, 6-3, 7-5

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