CINCINNATI -- Aryna Sabalenka captured her second title of the year and first since the Australian Open after defeating No.6 Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-5 in the Cincinnati Open final. 

Cincinnati is Sabalenka's 15th career title and sixth WTA 1000 title. Only two active players have won more WTA 1000 titles, with both Iga Swiatek and Victoria Azarenka winning 10. Cincinnati is Sabalenka's first WTA 1000 title since winning 2023 Madrid and her first hard-court WTA 1000 win since 2020 Doha. 

"I would say that I'm really playing great tennis," Sabalenka said, "probably not like the best tennis I can play, but I'm definitely getting there.

"And with every match I play, I feel better, better and better and hopefully at the US Open, I can keep building the level, and I can, I can reach maybe even higher level than I used to play."

Sabalenka will overtake Coco Gauff and return to No.2 on the PIF WTA Rankings. She will also pass Elena Rybakina to sit at No.2 on the PIF Race to the WTA Finals Leaderboard. 

Sabalenka's win ended Pegula's nine-match win streak, which began with the American's title run at the National Bank Open last week. Pegula was bidding to become the first woman in over 50 years to sweep titles in Canada and Cincinnati in a single season. After beating Paula Badosa in the semifinals, Pegula became just the third American in the Open Era to make the finals of both tournaments, joining Serena Williams and Rosie Casals. 

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In their seventh career meeting and first in a tournament final, Sabalenka continued her dominating effort at the service line to keep Pegula under relentless pressure. Pegula was taken to deuce in her first three service games, with Sabalenka securing the sole break of the set to lead 3-1. In contrast, Sabalenka lost just four points on her own serve and served over 70 percent of her first serves in.

"Funny, Andrew said 'Aryna' and I thought he said 'Serena', but it felt like Serena today with the way you were serving there," Pegula said on court. "I don't know, I may have wanted Serena instead of Aryna today."

'It felt like Serena': Pegula pays Sabalenka the ultimate compliment

Sabalenka continued her disciplined effort in the second set. She broke Pegula straight out of the gate and consolidated with a love hold to lead 2-0. But after rolling through four consecutive service games without losing a point, Sabalenka played a tight service game to get broken to 5-5. 

Sabalenka responded by breaking Pegula for a third and final time, closing out the 75-minute win with a clean service hold. She finished the match with 29 winners, including 10 aces, to 23 unforced errors. 

Sabalenka's victory sealed a perfect week for the 26-year-old. She did not lose a set across her five victories, which included her first straight-set victory over No.1 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals. With wins over Swiatek and Pegula, she improved to 5-4 against Top 10 opposition this season. 

Pegula entered the North American hard-court summer at No.20 on the PIF Race to the WTA Finals Leaderboard and will leave Cincinnati firmly inside the Top 8. The top eight at the end of the regular season will qualify for the season-ending WTA Finals Riyadh.

"Incredible couple weeks," Pegula said. "Unfortunately, too good from Aryna today. I mean, she was playing at a really high level, and it didn't seem to come down. And I had some chances at the end, but wasn't able to do it.

"But yeah, I'm really proud of myself for the last couple weeks for the level I've been able to display, playing a lot of matches, and I think proving to myself that I can win a lot of matches in a row and be able to handle a lot of different challenges, with the conditions in different cities and courts and everything."