Jessica Pegula defeated defending champion Iga Swiatek 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 in a nearly three-hour semifinal at the Cincinnati Open on Aug 22 to reach the women's final. The match featured 13 breaks of serve and drew praise from Pegula, who said, "It was a really tough match. She (Swiatek) is in great form. To beat someone who is such a great athlete like Iga in the semis and to make it to another 1000 final, it's awesome" [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
Pegula will face Coco Gauff in today's women's final after Gauff beat Czech Sara Bejlek 6-4, 6-1 in the semifinals on Aug 22. This will be the first all-American Cincinnati Open women's final in 56 years [1, 2, 3, 5, 6].
In the men's draw, 19-year-old Arthur Fils reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final by defeating Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 6-4 on Aug 22 [1, 2, 7, 4, 5, 6]. Frances Tiafoe advanced to the final by beating Brandon Nakashima 7-5, 6-3 that same day [2, 3].
Fils then defeated Tiafoe 6-3, 1-6, 6-0 on Aug 23 to win his first Masters 1000 title at the Cincinnati Open in a 98-minute final. Fils celebrated the victory, saying, "That was my dad on the phone, now I need to call my mum. Wow, that feels good, that feels good. It’s a lot of training, a lot of things, a lot of sacrifice. Injury. To be able to win one title like this means a lot to me." He added, "If they can watch us playing some great final like this and they can dream about it, it’s nice." [8, 9, 10, 11, 12]
The final was historic as the first ATP Masters 1000 final contested between two Black players. Tiafoe said, "It's awesome for a bunch of kids looking up to us and [who] want to be in our position. That's what it's about. It's always nice to be a part of history. Hopefully we can have more big finals like this having people of colour, and I'm super pumped about it." [3, 9, 11, 12]
With the win, Fils will jump from No. 21 to a career-high No. 11 in the ATP rankings. He overcame injuries including a 2025 back stress fracture and a recent hip injury in 2026 to reach this milestone [9, 7, 11, 12].
Swiatek, who was defending champion, will drop from No. 5 to No. 8 in the world rankings after failing to defend her title [1, 4].
The women's final between Pegula and Gauff is scheduled for today, Aug 23, marking a rare all-American battle in Cincinnati [3].
