DRAMA ON COURT: ŚWIĄTEK VS SABALENKA CINCINNATI OPEN AUGUST 18, 2024

back none better let's do some sap match inside second serve was a disaster for Shian in that first set yeah great returning from sabalenka she was getting good depth but shanek was a little bit rattled with her serve early on and just never settled down and got comfortable only served at 65% and wasn't able to defend that second serve at all other thing is the shots she's been trying to break down the sabalan forehand it has not broken down at all so forant given where she was trying to hit in this first set she's going to have to change some things she's going to have to try maybe either Rush sabalan a little deeper down the middle of the court or at this point try and get sabalenka to have to move to her left try and defend her backhand Corner because going to the forehand did not work in that opening set I understand it for sure uh sh fiance got steamrolled in this first set 62 by sabalenka and so she leaves the court she takes her notebook with her and then her coach meets her off court and she gets coaching and that usually works the coach is able to um have some long conversations it's about a I think it's about a 10-minute uh uh you you get about 10 minutes when you leave the court so um it definitely delays uh the match a little bit but who knows it gives some time for the fans to uh in the stadium to uh you know uh move around uh you know you know in tennis you don't get to move around much when you're when you're on the court there but uh 62 uh this first set sabalenka sabalenka has really dominated this whole tournament and Shian hasn't she's had a little bit of uh trouble in a couple of matches especially her first match when it went three sets so can she take this uh semi-final this one to a third set we'll see um I have no idea if she's going to be able to Sanka has playing absolutely fantastic every from everything from ground Stokes to volleys to especially her serve has been dominating um it's not that Shian is playing horrible but um she's definitely not playing on the level that sabalenka is but those minor adjustments when she's getting coaching right now could make the difference so we'll see what happens here um definitely the winner of this one is going to play Jessica Pula I think Pula hasn't played yet she's her semi-final happens after this one but I think that she's going to be able to pull this one out uh Pula is and uh we could have uh bellus versus us or we could have Poland versus us so we'll see what happens with that our loved Jessica Pula here in the United States I'm not in studio today I'm I'm in a smaller city in North Texas um and uh um it's a lot of fun watching this one this is what we've been waiting for this this type of tennis between eish fian and Arena sabalenka bellus versus Poland right now and it's a lot of fun to see these are two amazing players um fian ranked number one in the world and Sabal Lanka rank number three in the world but as we've seen uh uh last year uh late last year Sabal Lanka actually overtook their number one ranking but it only lasted for three or four weeks and now could we be seeing a a a Deja Vu of sabalenka doing this again I think it could happen I think sabalenka could overtake the number one ranking by November maybe maybe even December and the way Shian got the number one ranking back last year was to win WTA finals so we'll see what happens there eight days away we eight eight eight excuse me days away from the US Open and um this Cincinnati open respectfully is really a warm-up tournament for that tournament and um so we're waiting on that there's actually a tournament next week uh as well I think it's a WTA 500 of course uh this Cincinnati open is a 1,000 but a WTA 500 to uh next week as well um probably the biggest names in that one is uh uh or one big name uh playing in that one next week is quin win Jang from China uh Jen of course won Gold in the Olympics and she was also an Australian Open finalist uh this year so uh we'll see what happens uh with uh Cincinnati open uh the finals are actually tomorrow in the Cincinnati open and then we have a WTA 500 next week and then finally um I believe it'll be Monday not not tomorrow but Monday in eight days uh is the US Open when that starts so let's get back to the broadcast uh eish fian versus arena sabalenka in the semi-final in the Cincinnati open and um there we a little bit of a rain delay so let's see how long this rain delay lasts it wasn't raining too hard just a little bit of drizzle over there in Cincinnati so um I know this rain delay as everyone would agree is uh favoring eish fian for sure because she needs it she's getting coaching right now from her coach and sabalenka did not leave the court the first Set uh she is on court holding an umbrella um and the ball boys and the ball grills are working hard to try to dry off this court for the fans and get this thing underway uh keep it here best muscle video on YouTube if you haven't subscribed please do so and let's get right back to the match thank you so much for watching and I will see you later and if I don't see you later today on Sunday come back right back here tomorrow on Monday as we'll definitely be covering the Cincinnati open Final uh it's going to be either one of the these two players and I definitely think they'll be playing Jessica Pula in the final who plays her semi-final right after this match talk to you later thanks for watching see you soon