Cincinnati Open: Sabalenka defeats Raducanu after a wild 3:09 battle

Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the top seed, advanced to the last 16 of the Cincinnati Open by edging out England’s Emma Raducanu, the No. 30 seed, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (5) at the Lindner Family Tennis Center on Monday evening.

The match was more than just a remake of their excellent encounter at Wimbledon. It was an intense 3-hour, 9-minute battle full of ups and downs for both players, and it gave Raducanu hope of achieving one of the greatest wins of her career.

One of the match’s highlights was an incredible 23-minute game on Raducanu’s serve at 4-3 in the third, which went to deuce 13 times. The British player saved four break points to level the score at 4-4. She made it to the tie-break, but the world No. 1 prevailed 7-5, clinching her tenth consecutive tie-break victory.

Interestingly, Raducanu won more total points than her opponent (125 to 122), while Sabalenka finished the match with 72 unforced errors.

Sabalenka, ranked No. 1, will face Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro next.

Cincinnati WTA 1000, other 32 results (Lindner Family Tennis Center, hard, USD 5.152.599, most recent results first):

• Clara Tauson vs. Veronika Kudermetova
• Magda Linette vs. Jessica Pegula
• Lucia Bronzetti vs. Jelena Ostapenko

• Dayana Yastremska vs. Coco Gauff
• Varvara Gracheva vs. Karolina Muchova
• Jasmine Paolini vs. Ashlyn Krueger
• Iva Jovic vs. Barbora Krejcikova
• Ella Seidel vs. McCartney Kessler
• Elena Rybakina vs. Elise Mertens
• Aoi Ito vs. Madison Keys
• Anna Kalinskaya vs. Amanda Anisimova: monday
• Sorana Cirstea beat Yue Yuan (LL): 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4
• Ekaterina Alexandrova (12) beat Maya Joint: 6-4, 6-3
• Jessica Bouzas Maneiro beat Taylor Townsend (WC): 6-4, 6-1
• Iga Swiatek (3) beat Marta Kostyuk (25): W/O