Cincinnati Open: Sabalenka dismantles Wang, enters round of 16

Aryna Sabalenka ends Wang Xinyu’s Cincinnati Open run. (Cincinnati Open Facebook)

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Aryna Sabalenka powered past China’s Wang Xinyu, 6-1, 6-3, to advance to the round of 16 of the ongoing Cincinnati Open at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, on Aug. 19, 2026.

After a walk-in-the-park round-of-64 win over Moyuka Uchijima, the WTA’s world No. 1 player picked up where she left off, handing the Chinese challenger a lopsided beating in just 54 minutes.

It was a display of flawless tactical execution, return dominance, and serving.

Throughout the match, Sabalenka never faced a single break point, served five aces, and hit the third shot with brute strength and tremendous depth.

Despite Wang’s efforts to neutralize Sabalenka’s groundstrokes with topspin lobs, the Belarusian ace shrugged off the moon balls, pummeling them at will with flat returns.

Sabalenka pulled away in the first set after building a double-break lead, then held serve in back-to-back games to limit Wang to a single game in the opener.

Wang put up a better fight in the second set as she started strong with an improved baseline game, specifically with her backhand flicks, which Sabalenka had targeted for most of the first set.

Just when Wang thought she could dig deep and find an opening, Sabalenka climbed back from a 15-30 deficit and turned things around in the seventh game to earn her first break point of the set.

Exhausted and running out of options, Wang appeared deflated over the final two games and committed a string of unforced errors.

Sabalenka quickly capitalized on that sequence and sent Wang home with a return clinic, tallying four return aces and a ruthless down-the-line forehand winner to move into the round of 16 of the Cincinnati Open.

The top seed wrapped up the round-of-32 win with 53 total points won, including five aces, four break points, and 21 return points.

Next up for Sabalenka in the round of 16 is Czech player Sara Bejlek, who earlier pulled off a reverse sweep over Ekaterina Alexandrova, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.