Cincinnati, August 17: Fourth-seeded Coco Gauff has secured her place in the third round of the Cincinnati Open. After losing the first set, she made a remarkable comeback to defeat Ludmila Samsonova with a score of 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.
This victory marks Gauff’s tenth comeback win of the season, where she has triumphed after dropping the first set. With this win, she ties with fellow American Jessica Pegula for the most comeback victories on tour in 2026. After losing the first set 2-6, Gauff gained a crucial break in the tenth game of the second set, pushing the match to a decisive third set. According to WTA reports, the 2023 champion dominated the final set, winning the last five games to secure a stunning victory after a match lasting 2 hours and 6 minutes.
This win is Gauff’s 20th on hard courts in 2026. She is striving to capture her first WTA title of the year. Her best performance on hard courts so far was as a runner-up at the Miami Open. In the next round, Gauff will face 28th-seeded American player Ann Li. Gauff holds a 3-0 head-to-head record against Li, having won all three previous encounters in straight sets.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka also advanced to the third round, overcoming fatigue from the weather to win 6-2, 7-6 (2) in 1 hour and 52 minutes. This victory marks her 24th consecutive opening match win at the tour level. Sabalenka’s next match will be against Wang Xinyu, marking their second meeting at the WTA level. She leads their head-to-head 1-0, with their only previous encounter at the 2022 Australian Open, where Sabalenka came back to win after dropping a set.
Earlier, Iga Swiatek recorded her seventh consecutive win at the Cincinnati Open, defeating Colombia’s Emiliana Arango 6-3, 6-0. With this victory, Swiatek achieved her 30th main-draw match win on the WTA tour this season. She has now won 41 sets 6-0 at the WTA 1000 level in her career. Since 1990, only Martina Hingis (52) and Serena Williams (50) have achieved more such victories.
If she defeats Maria Sakkari in the third round, Swiatek will become the fifth active player to reach over 100 wins in hard court WTA 1000 events, joining Sabalenka, Karolína Plíšková, Elina Svitolina, and Serena Williams in this achievement.
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