It’s nice to check off the list another tournament: Swiatek after clinching maiden Cincinnati crown

Cincinnati, Aug 19
Iga Swiatek added a new title to her resume, winning knocking off No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini to win her first Cincinnati Open trophy.

After falling behind 3-0 early in the first set, Swiatek rallied to defeat Paolini 7-5, 6-4 in 1 hour and 49 minutes to become the first Polish player in the Open era to win a singles title at the event.

This is Swiatek’s 24th career WTA Tour singles title and her second WTA title of 2025, coming a month after she won Wimbledon. It also marked her 11th career WTA 1000 title, now tied for fifth with American Lindsay Davenport for most all time at that level.

For Paolini, it’s her fifth loss in five matches against Swiatek and her second in a final. Swiatek improved to a perfect 6-0 against Paolini in career head-to-heads, and has dropped only one set in those matches.

Swiatek didn’t drop a single set en route to the title, a run that included victories over Top 10 players such as Paolini in the final and Elena Rybakina in the semifinals. Since 1990, her winning percentage against WTA Top 10 players trails only Steffi Graf and Serena Williams, according to WTA stats.

“It’s nice to check off the list another tournament in the season, one I haven’t won. It’s a great motivation to push forward. If I would have to point to two tournaments that would be the hardest ones to win, it would be Wimbledon and Cincinnati, so I’m even more happy. It’s kind of proved that the greatest moments will probably come when you least expect them," said Swiatek.

The victory comes just ahead of the US Open, where Swiatek will enter as the No. 2 seed following her Cincinnati title. She entered Monday’s final needing a win to surpass Coco Gauff in the WTA rankings.