Cincinnati (AFP) – Iga Swiatek filled in a piece of her career tennis puzzle on Monday as she won the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open for the first time with a 7-5, 6-4 defeat of Jasmine Paolini. The final lasting for just under two hours featured 16 break-point chances, with the Polish winner converting on six of 10 while Paolini struggled to make the most of her break opportunities.
The six-time Grand Slam singles champion’s 11th career win at the WTA 1000 level has left her within striking distance of the all-time record of 13 titles held by Serena Williams. Swiatek won the Cincinnati without dropping a set. The 24-year-old backed up her breakthrough Wimbledon trophy with the Midwest honours and now heads to the last Grand Slam of the season at the US Open with a major confidence boost after the 24th title of her career.
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Swiatek also climbed to within 500 points of current WTA number one Aryna Sabalenka, with the lead at the top of the table likely to be in play at the Open when it begins on Sunday. Swiatek had stalled twice at the last two editions at the semi-final stage and now has only the Canadian tournament where she has not reached the final at a 1000 event.
Swiatek began on the wrong foot as she lost serve to trail 0-3. But the situation was only temporary as the former number one immediately began her turnaround. The Pole answered immediately with two breaks of serve and moved to a 5-3 lead. But Paolini earned another break in the 10th game, saving a Swiatek set point to square the final at five-all.
Paolini dropped serve for 5-6, giving her opponent the chance to produce a love game and claim the opener 7-5 after just under an hour on court. The second set was a roller coaster, with the pair twice swapping breaks of serve before Swiatek salvaged a pair of break points to lead 5-3 and then serving out the winner two games later.
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