There have been mixed fortunes for seed players while day 4 of the Cincinnati Open started with a series of armor matches.
The Jasmine Paolini n ° 7 has advanced in two sets of fluctuating tie, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) on Maria Sakkari. However, No. 17 Belinda Bencic fell 6-4, 7-6 (0) to Veronika Kudermetova in the 11th edition of their rivalry.
Cincinnati: Draw | Scores | Game order
Meanwhile, the IGA Swiatek n ° 3 and the n ° 23 Jelena Ostapenko have both progressed via Walkover. Swiatek was to face n ° 25 Marta Kostyuk during the action of the third round on Monday, but the Ukrainian was forced to withdraw due to a right wrist injury. Ostapenko was to face Camila Osorio during the action of the second round on Sunday, but an abdominal injury ended the Hopes of the Colombian before she appeared in court.
Ostapenko will face Lucia Bronzetti, who beat the seeded n ° 15 Daria Kasatkina for the second time in two meetings 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 in the third round. Swiatek will play Sorana Cirstea or Lucky Loser Yuan Yue in the fourth round.
Paolini, Kudermetova takes the picturesque path to victory
Paolini’s last meeting with Sakkari was a 6-2, 6-1 defeat in the third round of Madrid in April during which the result rarely seemed in doubt. The revenge match was the opposite: a wild ride through the momentum changes and the oscillating fortunes that could have changed in both cases. Paolini spent an advance of 5-1 in the first set, only for Sakkari to save four section points – with a wins of clean coup and three non -returned services – while she was fighting to force an equality break. But despite the momentum in Sakkari, it was Paolini who dominated him while the Greek player sent the ball several times.
The second set reached a break in equality by more conventional means because none of the players was broken, but again, Sakkari was unleashed once there. But with Paolini at 6-0 with the match point of the Sextuple, the Italian put a volley in the open field – and Sakkari Rugi to save the first five match points. But with only one more to go to 6-6, Sakkari double defect for the second time in the equality break to send Paolini.
The head to the head of the pair is now at the level of two victories each, Paolini winning its two land meetings and Sakkari triumphing twice on Clay. Paolini will then face the seeded n ° 26 Ashlyn Krueger, who also went through a ball battle, 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 on Anastasija Sevastova.
The upheaval of Kudermetova with regard to Bencic, his fifth victory of the Top 20 of 2025, was not as dramatic. Nevertheless, the world n ° 36 had to come from 3-1 in the first set, winning five of the following six games, then retain a Benc office of 5-3 in the second set. Kudermetova offered the most spectacular games when he counted, including a pair of remarkable tilted backhoe passes, one in each set.
Like Sakkari, Bencic played his best tennis, back to the wall to force a break in equality, but once he delivered flat tennis and errors. Kudermetova will then face the semi-finalist of Montreal Clara Tauson after the seeded n ° 16 defeated Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4 in 2 hours and 23 minutes.
Bencic and Kudermetova have now played 11 times at the professional level since 2018. Bencic has always been leading 5-4 tête (and 3-2 on hard-outdoor grounds).
