Emma Raducanu and Aryna Sabalenka meet for the third time when they play a third-round match at the Cincinnati Open, a WTA 1000 event. Sabalenka enters as the world No 1 and defending champion. Raducanu is ranked world No 39. Their previous meetings saw Sabalenka prevail in Indian Wells in 2024 and again at Wimbledon in July.

The Wimbledon clash surprised many with its intensity and gave Raducanu fresh belief. “It was incredible,” said Raducanu.

“I think it was my favourite match to be a part of in terms of atmosphere, it was electric, I’ve never felt anything like it.

“With the roof closed, especially, everything was amplified, and the home support was incredible. And I had chances in that match, which was for me a great thing, because I took a lot of confidence; I was on the right track.

“I think obviously grass is a different surface to here, it plays completely different, but to push the world No 1 to such great lengths, it did give me a lot of confidence.

“Just the atmosphere, I think overall, is something I will never forget, and that’s the reason I play tennis, to play in stadiums like that and crowds like that and just to be part of matches that are so competitive.”

Sabalenka arrives in strong form. The three-time major winner leads the WTA Race to Riyadh, has the joint-most titles won (three) and the most finals reached (seven) in 2025, and is more than 4,000 points clear of world No 2 Coco Gauff. She began her Cincinnati campaign with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Marketa Vondrousova. Vondrousova was beaten by Raducanu at SW19 this summer.

“We had a great battle at Wimbledon,” commented Sabalenka. “She [Raducanu] is an amazing player, and she has been playing really well lately. I am super excited to face her on hard courts.

“I don’t remember our match at Indian Wells, but I think now she is playing much better. It’s going to be a challenge, and I love to accept tough challenges.

“So I am super excited to face her. I will definitely have to work really hard for every point. But Marketa tested me really well [on Saturday], so I am ready to fight for each point.”

For Raducanu the match has wider stakes: with the US Open starting in two weeks, a surprise win over the world No 1 would strengthen her bid to move into the top-32 seeding positions. She sits five places outside the top 32 once the withdrawals of world No 7 Zheng Qinwen and world No 12 Paula Badosa are factored in.

Iga Swiatek opened her Cincinnati campaign with a straight-sets win over Anastasia Potapova, a result that both sets up a third-round meeting with 25th seed Marta Kostyuk and delivered three significant career markers.

Swiatek’s on-court comments captured the pragmatic tone of the victory. “I really wanted to be solid but pretty intense on the other hand,” she said. “It was a bit up and down in the second set. In the important moments, I got my level up & I could close it. First match in any tournament is always tricky.

“I’m happy I’m going to have a chance to play another one here.”

By defeating Potapova the reigning Wimbledon champion reached her 300th WTA Tour-level victory, excluding Billie Jean King Cup wins. That 300th triumph came in her 372nd WTA Tour-level match, the fewest matches to reach the mark since Serena Williams, who reached 300 in 360 matches at the Cincinnati Open in 2006.

The win also extended Swiatek’s remarkable string in opening matches at the WTA 1000 level. She has now won her opening match in her last 29 WTA 1000 appearances, a run that dates back four years. The last time she failed to win an opening match at that level was the 2021 Cincinnati Open, when she lost in round two to Ons Jabeur after a first-round bye. That 29-match run equals the streak Monica Seles compiled at Tier 1/WTA 1000 events from Key Biscayne in 1990 to Rome in 2000. Martina Hingis remains the benchmark with 39 straight opening-match wins between the 1996 Italian Open and the 2002 Canadian Open.

Finally, the Cincinnati victory was Swiatek’s 20th WTA 1000 match win in 2025, marking the fourth consecutive season in which she has recorded 20 or more wins at this level. She claimed 24 WTA 1000 wins in 2022, 27 in 2023, and 30 in 2024, and has won 10 WTA 1000 titles in her career. Her Cincinnati run continues with Kostyuk looming as the next test.

Madison Keys dug deep in her Cincinnati Open return, overturning two match points to beat Eva Lys 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1) in a two hour, 12 minute battle on Grandstand Court.

“I think I blacked out,” Keys joked after coming back to win, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1). “I was just trying to win the point directly ahead of me.”

Keys trailed 0-3 in the deciding set and had to recover after serving for the match at 5-4, ultimately surrendering only a single point after saving match point to dominate the final-set tiebreaker. It was the fourth time this season she has won from match point down.

“I think it was just one of those days where neither of us played great at the same time, but we both kind of kept finding it,” Keys explained her post-match mixed zone. “I feel like sometimes that’s just a tennis match: you’re not both raising your level at the same time, and that kind of happened a little bit today.

“I also thought we both played really well at moments.”

“I think I played well when it mattered. I think I served really well at the end, and that was huge. I felt like there was times when I wasn’t making the best decisions, but that’s life. Madison Keys

Keys will next face qualifier Aoi Ito for a spot in the fourth round. Her comeback in Cincinnati added to a remarkable start to 2025, a season that began with her first Grand Slam title in Melbourne where she dethroned defending champion Aryna Sabalenka after nearly losing to Iga Swiatek in the semis.

“You can definitely use that as confidence and hopefully you don’t get yourself back in that scenario,” she said of the halo effect winning tough matches can provide. “But definitely, there’s lot of positives you can take away from that.”

Keys has also reached the quarterfinals of Roland Garros and the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open this year and is positioned among the title contenders as she builds toward the US Open, for which this would be her 14th main-draw appearance. A former Cincinnati champion in 2019 and a semifinalist in 2022, Keys praised the venue and its fans.

“I’ve always loved this tournament and it’s always packed,” said Keys. “There’s never any match I’ve ever played where you look around and there’s not hundreds of people around. I think that part of that is that this tournament has been here for so long, but the fans are very knowledgeable. They’re very big tennis fans, and I feel like it’s such a great central location for a lot of Midwesterners to come.

“It’s always one of my favorite tournaments and I think the fans are a huge part of that.”