Cincinnati: World No. 35 Sara Bejlek registered a major upset at the Cincinnati Open by eliminating Aryna Sabalenka with a 7-6 (7), 6-4 win over World No. 1.
With a win, Bejlek advanced to the first quarterfinals of WTA 1000 tournament, earning her first win of a top ranked player on the WTA Tour
Bejlek is through to her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal and just her fifth at WTA level overall, following quarterfinal appearances in Prague in 2025 and 2026, Abu Dhabi and Athens in 2026. She is also the only quarterfinalist at this year’s tournament who has not won a WTA 1000 event.
Bejlek started the match down an early break as Sabalenka took a 2-0 lead. But the 20-year-old Czech worked her way back into the set, using her crafty game to claw back the break immediately. The pair exchanged another round of service breaks before heading into a tiebreak, where Bejlek built a 5-1 lead, WTA reports.
Although Sabalenka fought back to 5-5, Bejlek was able to close out the first set 7-6 (9-7) on her third set point in the tiebreak.
Sabalenka then built a 4-1 lead in the second set. Once again, Bejlek found her way back to level the set at 4-4. She earned another break to go up 5-4 and then served out the match to love to complete the 7-6, 6-4 win in just under two hours.
“I feel incredible. I lost totally my words. I just keep believing and that was the key today. She played amazing tennis and I was just believing, keep fighting and I was just trying my best and that’s it,” Bejlek said after the win.
She will next face American and 2019 champion Madison Keys in the Czech’s first-ever WTA 1000 quartefinal. The 20th seed defeated WangXiyu 7-6 6-4.
Defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek needed four match points to get past Diane Parry of France 6-3, 6-3.
The seventh-seeded Pole claimed her fourth consecutive quarterfinal in Cincy and her 30th at the 1000 level.
She now faces a re-run of last week’s Toronto final against Elena Rybakina, who beat Diana Shnaider 6-4, 6-4.
Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk rallied from a set down to beat fifth seeded French Open winner Mirra Andreeva 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.
Sixth-seeded Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova fell to Amanda Anisimova 6-1, 6-4 in another weather-disrupted match.
Anisimova will face third-seeded fellow American Jessica Pegula, who missed a chance to serve out a quick win but held on to beat Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. Agencies
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