Aryna Sabalenka walked into the Rybakina showdown on the back of a morale-boosting 6–1, 7–5 win over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro that booked her quarterfinal place in Cincinnati. She’d already framed the matchup clearly on Tennis Channel—“ It’s going to be a really aggressive match… two big servers and we’ve played a lot of great battles in the past” , and yet she was excited for what would be their 12th meeting. Sabalenka still leads the overall head-to-head, but Rybakina had been closing the gap with big wins at marquee events; this one just tightened it again.

Elena Rybakina seized control from ball one. Fresh off a win over Australian Open champion Madison Keys, she tore through the first set 6–1 and closed 6–4, leaning on a dominant serve: 11 aces, 81% of first-serve points won, and

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