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<\/a><\/p>\nA quality match crackled with big strikes from both women escalating into a pulsating 27-shot rally in the sixth point of the tense tiebreaker.<\/p>\n
Trailing 3-4 in the tiebreaker, Pegula shrewdly targeted the Anisimova forehand drawing four straight forehand errors to close in two hours, 14 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean Amanda\u2019s an amazing player an amazing ball striker,\u201d said Pegula, who left the court for a treatment timeout trailing 0-3 in the second set. \u201cI know that I have a good record against her, but literally every single match is like it was today.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I know that I have to try and survive. Sometimes, she can play lights out tennis where there\u2019s not much you can do, like in the second set.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I think I was starting to get momentum at the end of the set and then take it into the third and kind of get ahead. But it still wasn\u2019t enough. But I got there.\u201d <\/p>\n
The third-seeded Pegula will face the winner of tonight\u2019s quarterfinal between No. 2 Elena Rybakina and seventh-seeded Iga Swiatek. That match is a rematch of the Toronto final that Swiatek won 6-2, 6-3 to capture her first title of the year and take a 7-6 lead in her head-to-head vs. Rybakina.<\/p>\n
Tonight\u2019s quarterfinal carries global repercussions. Following Sara Bejlek\u2019s 7-6, 6-4 upset of top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, Rybakina can supplant Sabalenka as new world No. 1 if she reaches the Cincinnati final. <\/p>\n
Pegula, who leads the WTA Tour in match wins with a 44-11 record, improved to 16-5 in three-setters this season. The 32-year-old Pegula\u2019s precision under pressure, stamina and the fact she wasted almost no energy exerting frustration during this tight test, helped her maintain her mastery over Anisimova. <\/p>\n
Buffalo native Pegula is 6-0 lifetime vs. Anisimova though four of those six matches have gone the distance, including a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) victory in Charleston two years ago.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a frustrating setback for Anisimova, who came back from a double-break deficit in the decider, broke with a barrage of backhands when Pegula served for it at 5-4 and fired a forehand pass crosscourt for a 4-3 lead in the breaker.<\/p>\n
Credit Pegula for drawing errors from her opponent\u2019s forehand to sweep the final four points and the victory.<\/p>\n
Anisimova\u2019s backhand is arguably the most damaging two-hander in the sport. Her forehand is not quite as lethal or reliable, if you can make her hit in on the run and play low to that wing. <\/p>\n
The 2025 AO champion Madison Keys blitzed Anisimova 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in an all-American showdown that popped with pyrotechnic power on Centre Court on a Fourth of July showdown at Wimbledon last month. Keys unleashed a barrage of forehands in the decider fueling further frustration in her fellow heavy hitter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve tried everything on the forehand\u2014I\u2019ve tried 20 different forehands,\u201d a frazzled Anisimova said to herself prompting a fan to offer encouragement.<\/p>\n
Though Anisimova hit some forceful forehands today, Pegula made her hit her weaker wing on pivotal points.<\/p>\n
Six years after their first meeting at the 2020 Cincinnati, staged in Flushing Meadows because of COVID-19, Anisimova and Pegula stood smiling shoulder to shoulder for the traditional pre-match photo today.<\/p>\n
It was the third all-American Cincinnati quarterfinal since 2000 following Serena Williams against Amy Frazier in 2006 and Madison Keys vs. Venus Williams in 2019.<\/p>\n
Eight minutes into the match, Pegula reminded why she\u2019s turned this rivalry into one-way traffic. Pegula pumped a forehand down the line for double break point. Anisimova connected on a couple of heavy serves to save both, including firing a forehand crosscourt to save the second break point.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Flicking another forehand down the line earned Pegula a third break point. Anisimova went for the ace, but missed the center stripe on her first serve, then double faulted long on the second. Pegula\u2019s pressure provoked the break for 2-1.<\/p>\n
Mixing the pace and direction on serve, Pegula cruised through a confident hold at 15 stretching her lead to 3-1.<\/p>\n
A clash between two of the sport\u2019s purest ball strikers saw Pegula deploy those down the line drives at the right times\u2014and repeatedly target Anisimova\u2019s forehand return\u2014in sustaining her lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anisimova threw down a love hold to cut the deficit to 4-5.<\/p>\n
Contesting her 11th quarterfinal of the year, the Charleston champion cranked a slice serve down the T then cracked a forehand swing volley winner sealing the 33-minute opener with a love hold.<\/p>\n
Turning the tables in set two, Anisimova was stepping into her shots asserting her aggression. Pegula missed a forehand drive down the line as Anisimova broke for 2-0 then backed up the break for 3-0 after 44 minutes.<\/p>\n
The third-seeded Pegula left the court for treatment. When she returned, Anisimova broke immediately for 4-0.<\/p>\n
Torching her two-hander down the line, Anisimova ended an aggressive set with a bang to force a third set at the 74-minute mark.<\/p>\n
For the fourth time in six meetings the pair would go the distance.<\/p>\n
After a clothing change break, Pegula came back to open the decider with a break.<\/p>\n
Blitzing a backhand return winner down the line, Pegula gained the double-break advantage at 3-0. Though Pegula was a point away from 4-0, Anisimova was not having it.<\/p>\n
A fine flicked dropper from Pegula floated into the front court. Anisimova ran it down and rifled a backhand off the baseline breaking in the fourth game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Blasting her first ace down the T helped Anisimova hold and close the gap to 2-3.<\/p>\n
Down 3-5, Anisimova stormed through eight of the next 10 points drilling her backhand to break when Pegula served for the match at 5-4.Anisimova navigated a gritty hold with a diagonal forehand strike for 6-5 before Pegula answered holding at 15 to force the tiebreaker.<\/p>\n
Playing higher percentage drives, Pegula was down 2-3 when she won that leg and lung-sapping 27-shot rally on a netted forehand from Anisimova to level at 3-all. When Anisimova fired a forehand pass she was three points from her first win over Pegula, but the third seed shut it down to maintain mastery of the two-time major finalist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, August 20, 2026Photo credit: National Bank Open Facebook In a clash of clean ball…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-862390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}