Some think Iga Swiatek has already won the WTA Cincinnati Open title by defeating Elena Rybakina in the semifinals. But Jasmine Paolini has shown plenty of times that she loves the position of the underdog and shouldn’t be underestimated. However, it’s the Wimbledon champion that leads the head-to-head 5-0, dropping only set to Paolini in all their previous meetings. Can the Italian pull off something special here? Who do you think will prevail?
WTA Cincinnati Final Prediction
Iga Swiatek vs Jasmine Paolini
Head-to-head: Swiatek 5-0
Iga Swiatek reached the Cincinnati semifinals for the third straight year, but this is the first time she’s made it to the final. She’s clearly enjoying herself so much on the court right now after winning Wimbledon–and it’s showing in her play, especially under pressure. She served well enough to almost match Elena Rybakina in that department on Sunday and then also produced intensity off the ground that was out of the Kazakh’s reach.
Jasmine Paolini has that quality where anytime you think that her best days might be slowly behind her and that she doesn’t really belong to the top echelon of the sport anymore, she just silences these doubts with a big run. Having already won WTA 1000 Rome this year, she’s into another final and defeated Coco Gauff along the way. Having lost in the doubles semifinals might also help her save up some energy for the last match of the tournament, otherwise it would have been a very difficult schedule.
Swiatek defeated Paolini all five times they played, including the 2024 Roland Garros final. Only once did the Italian come anywhere close with a difficult match at Billie Jean King Cup Finals last year. The other encounters have been very straightforward, including one just two months ago on grass in Bad Homburg. Swiatek just seems to be like a well-oiled machine at the moment and while Paolini offers a different challenge stylistically than let’s say Rybakina, it’s tough to grasp what the underdog could do to threaten here in the long run.
Prediction: Swiatek in 2
Main Photo Credit: Mike Frey-Imagn Images
