Aryna Sabalenka outclassed Jessica Pegula 6-3 7-5 to win the Cincinnati Open final on Monday. (More Tennis News)
The now world number two earned a first title since winning the Australian Open for a second time in January with a convincing performance against the sixth seed.
Sabalenka lost only four first-set points and served over 70 per cent of first serves ien route to taking the opener and broke at the first time of asking in the second before holding to love to consolidate.
Pegula would level up to make it 5-5 but Sabalenka broke for a third time to secure an advantage she would not relinquish, finishing the match with 29 winners - including 10 aces - to 23 unforced errors.
Victory marks a 15th career WTA title for Sabalenka and a sixth WTA 1000-level trophy.
Pegula sees a nine-match winning streak come to an end with defeat in the show-piece match, and also saw her hopes of becoming the first woman in over 50 years to take out the title in Canada and Cincinnati in a single season go up in smoke.
Data Debrief: Sabalenka sizzles again in Cincinnati
Sabalenka now has 18 wins at the Cincinnati Open. It represents her most in a single WTA 1000 event, beating Madrid (17). Only at the Australian Open (22) and US Open (21) does she have more in WTA tournaments.
Moreover, she now has 100 victories from 143 WTA 1000 events, becoming the fastest to rack up the landmark since Simona Halep in 2017 (100 wins from 141 such matches).
She also becomes the third player since 2004 to win the title in Cincinnati without dropping a single set, with Vera Zvonareva in 2006 and Ashleigh Barty in 2021 the others to have done so.
