Iga Swiatek solves teen phenom Mirra Andreeva, returns to Cincinnati Open semifinals

CINCINNATI—Iga Swiatek continued her march towards a first Cincinnati Open title, rallying from a set down to survive teen phenom Mirra Andreeva, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 on Saturday.

The world No. 1 is making the most of her first hard-court tournament in nearly six months, reaching the semifinals at the Lindner Family Tennis Center for a second straight season, winning in two hours and 30 minutes on Center Court.

Swiatek arrived in the Queen City fresh off her first Olympic medal—rounding out the podium in bronze below Zheng Qinwen and Donna Vekic—but quick to temper expectations ahead of her first hard-court tournament since March’s Miami Open.

“I’m going to treat it as a practice tournament,” she said in her Media Day press conference earlier in the week. “Not in a way that I don’t care but in the way that I want to implement all the stuff I’ve been practiced, and I think that’s the best approach for me.”

Playing on quick hard courts with the lighter Regular Duty tennis balls, Swiatek has thrived in similar conditions—even winning the 2022 US Open—and looked to be easing into form after a second-set hiccup in her opening round against Varvara Gracheva. Her second match against Marta Kostyuk was more straightforward, defeating the Ukrainian in straight sets to book a first meeting with Andreeva.

Still just 17, Andreeva was making her first appearance at the Cincinnati Open having enjoyed her own success at the Summer Olympic Games, pairing Diana Shnaider to win a silver medal in women’s doubles. Andreeva has been one of the players to watch since she reached the second week of Wimbledon last summer, and built on that breakthrough since hiring coach Conchita Martinez in the spring. By June, she had earned the biggest win of her career, shocking then-world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka en route to the semifinals of Roland Garros.

Andreeva won her first WTA title at the Iași Open in Romania, and made a seamless transition to from clay courts back to concrete. After roaring through her first round against No. 11 seed Emma Navarro, the unseeded teenager posted strong victories over former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova and No. 5 seed Jasmine Paolini, rallying from a set down to defeat the latter and reach her second WTA 1000 quarterfinal.

Up against Swiatek for the first time, Andreeva, who was looking to become the youngest player to beat a world No. 1 since 2021 (Coco Gauff d. Ashleigh Barty, Rome) showed no fear on the outset, breaking the Pole and holding on to seal the opening set with an ace.

Swiatek began her comeback early in the second set, racing ahead, 3-0 and winning 10 straight points on serve to level the match at one set apiece.

A tense final set unfolded from there, Andreeva serving first and maintaining a lead through the first nine games. Game to match Andreeva, who struck a total 12 aces on the day, Swiatek served to stay in the match as the contest hurtled closer towards a seemingly inevitable final-set tiebreaker.

Under pressure in the 10th game, Andreeva threw her racquet in frustration as Swiatek earned the first break points of the set. Andreeva saved one with an ace but erred wide off the backhand to hand the world No. 1 the chance to serve for the match.

On the brink of victory, Swiatek fended off a break point and earned match point with an unreturnable serve. One last long rally brought Swiatek over the finish line, where No. 3 seed Aryna Sabalenka or No. 10 seed Liudmila Samsonova await.