Sabalenka beats Gibson in Cincinnati

BLUSTERY MATCHES: Players fought through a gusty day as the Ohio-based tournament drags on, while Taiwanese players advanced in the doubles matches

• AFP, with Staff writer CINCINNATI, OHIO

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World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka needed six match points to subdue Talia Gibson on Sunday and join reigning Grand Slam champions Elena Rybakina and Mirra Andreeva in the third round of the Cincinnati Masters.

Australia’s Gibson saved five match points in the 12th game of the second set before Sabalenka came through in the tiebreaker, managing to get the job done 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) in just under two hours on a windswept Grandstand Court.

“I’m super tired, this is crazy weather,” Sabalenka said. “Talia played great tennis and was more aggressive in the second set.”

Aryna Sabalenka serves to Talia Gibson of Australia during the Cincinnati Open in Ohio on Sunday.

Photo: AFP

“She put more pressure on my service games,” Sabalenka said. “I’m glad I stayed calm and pulled it out in straight sets.”

Sabalenka won Cincinnati in 2024 and is hoping for a deep run to carry her into the US Open, where she is seeking her first Grand Slam title of the year.

The Belarusian has won three titles in this year, but none since Miami in March.

She advanced along with Australian Open winner Rybakina and Roland Garros champion Andreeva, who powered on in convincing style.

US hope Coco Gauff, seeded fourth, had to work harder for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over 43rd-ranked Russian Liudmila Samsonova and fellow American Ben Shelton — up to sixth in the world rankings after his Montreal Masters triumph last week — was sent packing by 79th ranked Jaime Faria of Portugal.

World No. 2 Rybakina, coming off a runner-up finish to Iga Swiatek in Toronto and inching closer to Sabalenka in the rankings, defeated Taylor Townsend 6-3, 6-4.

Andreeva crushed Oleksandra Oliynykova with the loss of just one game, breaking five times and saving all seven break points she faced in a 6-1, 6-0 rout.

Rybakina said that she is concentrating on recovery after a tough Toronto run and was glad to get off to a low-stress start.

“Today I’m happy with the serve,” she said. “Definitely it helped me a lot. Last week in Toronto was very difficult. A lot of three set matches.”

Seventh seed Swiatek, the defending champion who bagged her first title of a rocky season in Toronto, hammered Emiliana Arango of Colombia 6-3, 6-0.

Gauff and Shelton headlined an evening session that proved tricky as blustery conditions gave way to brief rain that halted their matches for just under half an hour.

Gauff pulled out victory with a storming finish, winning the last five games.

Shelton fell victim to the same sort of surge from Faria, who rallied from 4-1 down in the second set to post his first top-10 win with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph over the American.

“These moments, you got to take it all in and just enjoy it,” Faria said. “It’s a very emotional moment for me and my team, to do it here in front of an amazing crowd and against the home player at night at an amazing venue just makes it a little more special.”

In women’s doubles, Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei and Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko on Sunday won their opening-round match. The fifth seeds defeated Slovak Tereza Mihalikova and Briton Olivia Nicholls 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.

The Taiwanese-Latvian duo, who won the Brisbane International earlier this year, served three aces and converted five of seven break points to advance to the second round.

Twenty-five-year-old Taiwanese Liang En-shuo and Japanese partner Shuko Aoyama beat Ingrid Neel of Estonia and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico 6-2, 7-5 to book a second-round match against the seventh seeds Erin Routliffe of New Zealand and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Australian partner Maya Joint edged the eighth seeds Elise Mertens of Belgium and Diana Shnaider of Russia 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 10-3.

After press time last night, Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Croatia’s Darija Jurak Schreiber were to face the top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in their opening round.