Pegula overcomes Swiatek, advances to Cincinnati final against Gauff
Theo Al Jazeera English
Jessica Pegula staged a third-set comeback to defeat defending champion Iga Swiatek 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 and reach the Cincinnati Masters final against Coco Gauff. The all-American women's final will be followed by the men's title match between Frances Tiafoe and Arthur Fils.
Jessica Pegula came from behind in the third set to defeat defending champion Iga Swiatek 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 in Saturday's semifinal in Mason, Ohio. The win booked the world No. 3 American a place in the final against Coco Gauff.
Earlier, Gauff eased past unseeded Czech Sarah Bejlek 6-4, 6-1, ending her opponent's fairytale run. Bejlek had caused a major upset by eliminating Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round.
The all-American women's singles final will be played Sunday evening, just ahead of the men's championship match between Frances Tiafoe (USA) and Arthur Fils (France).
Fils reached his first Masters 1000 final by defeating Roland Garros finalist Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 6-4. The match was delayed 45 minutes due to rain and lightning.
Swiatek and Pegula also had to wait out a rain delay before their semifinal began. The match was briefly interrupted again after just two games.
“It was a crazy match today,” Pegula said after nearly three hours of play to subdue Swiatek, who had won her first title of 2026 in Toronto last week.
“There were so many breaks. The wind was strong, conditions were quite unusual. I felt like we both played well at times and then poorly,” she added. “It was really hard to read the flow of the match.”
The pair exchanged a series of breaks before Pegula moved ahead 5-4 in the deciding set. Swiatek saved three break points before double-faulting on the fourth. Pegula quickly closed out the match with an ace on match point.
“I'm very pleased with the way I handled a lot of situations today,” the 31-year-old American said. “I did a good job of not letting anything affect me.”
The first five games of the lengthy match went against the server as both Pegula and Swiatek struggled to adapt to the conditions. Swiatek struck first before Pegula held to love to lead 4-2, but Swiatek won three straight games before Pegula broke again and took the set when Swiatek netted a volley on set point.
They traded breaks twice in the second set before Swiatek broke in the final game to level the match.
Tiafoe 'feels great' to be back in final
Tiafoe, the 2024 Cincinnati runner-up after losing to Jannik Sinner, returned to the final with a 7-5, 6-3 win over compatriot Brandon Nakashima. He saved three set points in the opening set and earned five breaks in total to close out the match in under two hours.
“It feels great,” Tiafoe said. He predicted “a great show” against Fils, who needed just 68 minutes to beat seventh seed Cobolli. Fils became the youngest Frenchman to reach a Masters final since Richard Gasquet did so in Toronto two decades ago at age 20.
Fils admitted the weather delay had an effect on him. “You walk on court already nervous because it's a semifinal. Rain comes, you wait, and when you come back conditions are completely different,” he said. “It was tough, but I'm happy with how I got through it.”
