After two inconsistent weeks on the hard courts, Aryna Sabalenka has seemingly finally figured things out, beating Liudmila Samsonova to secure a semi-final at the 2024 Cincinnati Open.
The Belarusian player started her US Open preparation by playing at the Citi Open in Washington. She did well by winning two matches but then lost to Marie Bouzkova.
Overall, it was a good return for Sabalenka, who had missed Wimbledon due to a shoulder injury. She then made her way to Toronto for the Canadian Open, where she also played quite well but far from her best level.
Many expected her to dominate this part of the season, considering how dominant her power can be in conditions like these, but Amanda Anisimova ended her run at the Canadian Open.
So far, her run in Cincinnati has been the best of these tournaments. She made it to the quarter-final without many issues, and now, she faced Russian Samsonova, who can be a tricky player to play.
The Russian is a very streaky player, so it mostly comes down to how well she plays. She's been a somewhat tough matchup for Sabalenka, beating her twice in three matches, including the most recent one they played at last year's Canadian Open.
However, this match wasn't so problematic for Sabalenka, even though there were moments during the match when she struggled a bit. The start of the match was slow as the games dragged on.
There was a bit of battling between the players, but after she overcame that start, the World No. 3, who is set to become the World No. 2 after this week, slowly established control. She broke her opponent's serve and won opening set 6-3.
It was an important set for Sabalenka because she had to fend off early break points. Samsonova was having one of her good days, and the only thing that saved the third seed was her better play in the crucial rallies.
Both had three break points, but Sabalenka saved all of them while her opponent didn't. Starting strongly in the second was paramount for the Belarusian because she didn't want to give Samsonova any chances of fighting back.
The Russian was playing well, and any kind of positive momentum would only embolden her. And that's exactly what Sabalenka did by breaking in a game where she was down 15-40.
It completely shattered any hope Samsonova had of fighting back, as her game completely collapsed. Not only did she get broken early, but she also lost her serve to give Sabaleenka a 3-0 lead, which she then made 4-0.
It almost ended the match on the spot because Samsonova isn't known for many spectacular comebacks. She either plays well or she doesn't, and after dropping her serve like this, there was little hope that she would battle back.
As well as Samsonova played, she was just not consistent enough in the rallies to give Sabalenka problems. She did it twice when they played, but this time around, it was all Sabalenka who won the match comfortably after that.
The final score was 6-3, 6-2 and her next opponent will be Iga Swiatek, who had to fight a lot in her quarter-final match.