Aryna Sabalenka’s difficult stretch continued at the Cincinnati Open, where the world No. 1 fell in the fourth round to unseeded Sara Bejlek. Leading coach Rick Macci said he believes “Sabalenka is competing against herself”.

Sabalenka opened the 2026 campaign in strong fashion, defending her Brisbane International title before reaching the Australian Open final, where she finished runner-up to Elena Rybakina. She then built a major cushion over her rivals in March by winning both Indian Wells and Miami to complete the Sunshine Double. Since then, however, her results have fallen away. Diana Shnaider beat her in the Roland Garros quarter-finals, and Naomi Osaka sent her out in the fourth round at Wimbledon.

That uneven run has continued on the North American hard courts. Sabalenka was previously defeated by Ekaterina Alexandrova in the round of 16, and her Cincinnati exit added another setback. Against Bejlek, the opening set was closely fought. Sabalenka broke in the first game, but the 20-year-old recovered and took the tie-break. In the second set, Bejlek broke immediately, Sabalenka responded by winning four straight games and moving 4-1 ahead, yet she did not claim another game as Bejlek closed out a 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 victory.

Sabalenka now holds a 40-8 record for the season, but Macci thinks confidence is becoming a concern. “Sabalenka is on a slippery slope as the Belarus Bomber still has an unreal serve but in tough moments I see a different mindset with her nerve,” he wrote on X.

The loss also leaves the top ranking under threat. Rybakina can move to No. 1 if she reaches the Cincinnati final. Even if she does not capitalise there, the US Open offers another chance, with Sabalenka defending 2,000 points after winning last year’s title while Rybakina is defending only 240. Macci described the upcoming tournament in New York as “wide open”. He added: “Right now Sabalenka is competing against herself. When an athlete does this you can still get a few wins but mentally your confidence spins,” before calling it “the U.S. WIDE OPEN for the WTA as 15 different players could have the final say.”

Aryna Sabalenka found her rhythm again in Cincinnati, producing a commanding third-round win over Wang Xinyu to move into the fourth round in under an hour.

The result mattered beyond the scoreline. Sabalenka has endured a difficult summer on clay and grass, and she has not lifted a WTA Tour trophy since her Miami Open triumph in March. With the world No. 1 race still live, every clean performance carries added weight, and this one was among her best of the season.

Sabalenka beat Wang Xinyu 6-1, 6-3 and later described the match as a near-perfect response to the pressure around her. Speaking on-court after the victory, Sabalenka said: “To get this win in under an hour [is] an insane result and I’m so happy to be through. I think I really trusted myself and I was going for my shots without overthinking. That was the weapon of tonight’s match.”

She then expanded on her mindset in a later interview, saying the reset has to come from within. “[I’m] just trying to build myself back together,” she said after beating Wang Xinyu. “It’s been a little bit of a down the hill road during the summer.

“So, right now, we’re just trying to build everything back together and then we’ll think what else we can add in my game.”

Sabalenka now meets Sara Bejlek, who advanced by defeating Ekaterina Alexandrova. The two have never met on the WTA Tour, but Bejlek has already marked herself as one of the season’s most intriguing young players. Earlier this year, she won her maiden WTA Tour title at the Abu Dhabi Open, beating Alexandrova in the final.

Sabalenka’s progress has also given her more room at the top of the rankings race. Rybakina now must win the Cincinnati Open to keep her hopes of finishing the tournament as world No. 1 alive, and she cannot face Sabalenka before the final. If Sabalenka keeps serving and striking the ball as she did against Wang Xinyu, she will remain the clear favourite to stay at the summit.

Rick Macci has suggested that Alex Eala could become part of the race for world No 1, provided she makes a substantial overhaul to one part of her game.

Eala reached a career-best world No 20 last week after advancing to the fourth round at the Canadian Open. Her position has since shifted to 18th in the Live WTA Rankings following a third-round defeat at the Cincinnati Open, where she still managed to win one match. In the WTA Race, which reflects points earned in the current season, the 21-year-old is 15th.

Her progress has also been underlined by a maiden title at the WTA 500 event in Washington DC earlier this month. That result added to the growing interest around her ranking trajectory as the season moves on.

Macci, a former coach of Serena and Venus Williams, took to Twitter/X to argue that Eala’s serve needs biomechanical improvement. He said her foundations from the baseline are already in place.

“Eala has the baseline foundation off either side to give it a ride,” Macci wrote.

He also warned that her movement will be tested by bigger hitters, who will not provide many easy balls. Still, he pointed to possible additions to her game, including the slice and drop shot, as tools that could keep her climbing.

“Her movement will be tested by big hitters as like others they do not give her many sitters.

“She can add pieces to her game like the slice and drop [shot] and that alone will keep sending her near the top.

“Her serve, if a totally science based biomechanical overhaul can be done, look for the Philippine Machine in the future to [be] right in there for number one.”

In a separate post, Macci expanded on the same theme, calling for a science-based approach and stressing that the serve must be corrected from the ground up.

“Looking at the big picture, the Philippine Machine needs to bring in SCIENCE BASED APPROACH with her serve as this is very complex and hard for most to really understand the culprit or origin and not a symptom.

“If her serve is rewired properly from the ground up in sync with the racquet drop Alex has a shot at the top.

“She would have a 115 mph Lefty Laser not a broken Taser. Most of all the second serve would be 95 mph with kick on the ball.”

Eala’s next outing will come in the mixed doubles event at the US Open, where she will partner Felix Auger-Aliassime.