Badosa to lock horn with Pegula in Cincinnati’s last four

Paula Badosa defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in less than two hours to advance to her advance into the last four at the Cincinnati Open on Saturday night.

Paula Badosa eased past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3,6-2 to advance to her second semifinal of the hard-court summer and first at a WTA 1000 since 2022 Indian Wells.

The 26-year-old Spaniard who is ranked at no.36 at the WTA Rankings defeated her quarter final opponent in straight sets on centre court in Saturday’s last quarter finals match.

Paula Badosa will face Jessica Pegula in Sunday’s semifinal. The 30-year-old American who was a champion last week at the National Bank Open, defeated Fernandez 7-5, 6-7(1), 7-6(3) to extend her winning streak to eight matches.

Jessica Pegula has become only the third player to reach 10+ WTA-1000 semi-finals since the start of the 2020 season, along with Iga Swiatek (17) and Aryna Sabalenka (11). Established.

Injuries kept Pegula on the sideline for four WTA 1000s (Doha, Dubai, Madrid, Rome) and one Grand Slam (Roland Garros) this year, but the American’s summer surge has put her back on track. After winning her first title of the year in Berlin in June, Pegula began her summer hard court season at No.20 on the PIF Race to the WTA Finals Leaderboard.

With her run through Toronto and Cincinnati, Pegula will surge into the Top 8 when the new standings are released after this week. She can rise as high as No.6 if she wins the title.

The other semifinal will see World No.1 Iga Swiatek take on No.3 Aryna Sabalenka.