Everything you need to know about the Cincinnati final

CINCINNATI — Jessica Pegula is a win away from making history at the Cincinnati Open. The American is a win away from winning her 10th consecutive match to become the first woman in over 50 years to win titles in Toronto and Cincinnati in a single season.

Standing in her way is World No.3 Aryna Sabalenka, who has powered her way to her third WTA 1000 final of the season. Sabalenka, who will return to No.2 on the PIF WTA Rankings on Monday, has not lost a set in Cincinnati, including a dominant straight-set win over World No.1 Iga Swiatek in the semfinals.

Who will come out on top in the eighth WTA 1000 event of the season?

Here’s what you need to know about the Cincinnati final.

When is the singles final?

Both Toronto and Cincinnati delayed the start of their events to accommodate late-arriving players from the Paris 2024 Olympics, leading to scheduled finals on Monday.

The singles final will be played on Monday, Aug. 19 at 3:00 p.m. ET.

What milestones are at stake on Monday?

Sabalenka is bidding to win her 15th Hologic WTA Tour title and second of the season. It would be her first since defending her Australian Open title in January and her first WTA 1000 title since Madrid 2023.

Pegula is aiming to win her second consecutive WTA 1000 title and seventh Hologic WTA Tour title overall. Last week in Toronto, she captured her third career WTA 1000 title, all of which have come on hard courts.

Since the tournament returned to Cincinnati in 2004, no woman has swept the Canadian Open and Cincinnati in the same season. Pegula is a win away from becoming the first. Evonne Goolagong Cawley is the only woman to sweep both events in the Open Era, having done so in 1973.

How did Sabalenka and Pegula get here?

Sabalenka has enjoyed a dominant week in Cincinnati, where, after four semifinals she is now a first-time finalist. She has not lost a set or been taken to a tiebreak this week, rolling through wins over Elisabetta Cocciaretto, Elina Svitolina, No.10 seed Liudmila Samsonova and Swiatek in Sunday’s semifinal.

Sabalenka’s win over Swiatek snapped a three-match losing streak to the Pole and closed the gap on their head-to-head to 8-4. The win boosted Sabalenka into her third WTA 1000 final of the year and first hard-court WTA 1000 final since 2023 Indian Wells.

Pegula brings a nine-match win streak into Monday’s final. Coming off her title run at the National Bank Open last week, Pegula gritted out a quick turnaround to make back-to-back WTA 1000 finals for the first time in her career. She has lost three sets this week, notching wins over last year’s finalist Karolina Muchova, Taylor Townsend, Leylah Fernandez and Washington D.C. champion Paula Badosa in the semifinals.

Pegula’s summer surge comes after an injury-addled first half of the season. A stalwart at WTA 1000 events, Pegula was forced to skip Doha, Dubai, Madrid and Rome, as well as the French Open. She returned during the grass season and won the title in Berlin in just her second tournament back.

How do they stack up?

Sabalenka leads the head-to-head 4-2, but Pegula won their last meeting in group play at the WTA Finals last fall, which was their only match since 2022.

What are the points and prize money at stake?

Cincinnati is the eighth of 10 WTA 1000 tournaments of the season. By making the final, Sabalenka and Pegula have assured themselves 650 ranking points and $308,320 in prize money.

A win on Monday would give the winner a total take of 1,000 points and $523,485.

With her results in Cincinnati, Sabalenka is set to overtake Coco Gauff and return to No.2 on the PIF WTA Rankings after the tournament. She is projected to be seeded No.2 at the US Open behind Iga Swiatek. Sabalenka will also overtake Elena Rybakina to sit at No.2 on the PIF Race to the WTA Finals Leaderboard.

World No.6 Pegula will return to the Top 5 on the PIF WTA Rankings if she wins on Monday. The American went into the North American summer at No.20 on the PIF Race to the WTA Finals and will zoom into the Top 8 after Cincinnati, rising to as high as No.6 with the title.

What are they saying?

Sabalenka: “It just only shows that no matter what happened in the past, you always can change things, and you don’t have to focus on the past. That’s really good, that I was able to break the wall in this tournament. I’m happy to be in the finals, but finals, this is not the goal. I just want to focus on the next one.”

Sugar: “First, I couldn’t believe I was able to even have a chance to defend Toronto, and then now here, coming into this week, it’s pretty crazy, but amazing that I’ve been able to give myself that chance [to win both]. And I haven’t really thought about it too much, but now that it’s presenting itself, I would really love to accomplish that. That’s a really long time since that’s happened.”

Sabalenka: “I would say, if I’m able to adjust to the surface in the first matches and get those tough wins, because it’s kind of tricky in the first matches to figure out the court, then, of course, it’s bringing me some benefits on my serve and on the return games as well. But the tricky part is to figure out the court in the first matches and get those wins. With the matches going, I feel like I’m able to build the level on this court.”

Sugar: “I think with Aryna, it’s going to be very similar kind of game style [to Badosa]. So that’s nice, at least I’ll be ready for it, because I don’t think someone could hit as hard as Paula was hitting today, so I’ll kind of take what I could from this match and try to use that going into tomorrow.”