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Sara Bejlek beat Madison Keys 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) to reach her first WTA 1000 semifinal, a third win over a Grand Slam champion in a single week. Coco Gauff followed with a 6-2, 6-2 dismissal of Marta Kostyuk, breaking the Ukrainian six times. They meet on Saturday, with Iga Swiatek facing Jessica Pegula in the other semifinal of Cincinnati Open 2026.
Cincinnati, United States: A week ago Sara Bejlek was ranked 35th and had never beaten a top-10 player. She has now beaten Barbora Krejcikova, Aryna Sabalenka and Madison Keys — three Grand Slam champions — in the space of six days.
The 20-year-old Czech needed two hours and 38 minutes to get past Keys, the 2019 champion here, and she needed all of them. Keys took the opening set 6-3 and looked to have the match where she wanted it.
Three Points From the End
Bejlek levelled with a 6-4 second set and broke first in the decider, only for Keys to force the tiebreak. There Bejlek fell 4-2 behind — three points from the sort of collapse that ends dream runs — and won five of the last six points, sealing it with a winner struck down the line on match point.
ALSO READ: Rybakina retires hurt to hand Swiatek semifinal place and keep Sabalenka at No. 1
It extends her winning streak to five matches, a run that has taken in Karolina Pliskova, Krejcikova, Ekaterina Alexandrova, the world No. 1 and now Keys. She is the only unseeded player in the last four.
Gauff Loses Five Points Behind Her First Serve
The night session offered no such drama. Gauff broke Kostyuk three times in the opening set, racing to 3-0 and serving for it at 5-1 before dropping serve once and closing it out 6-2. The second set followed the same shape: two more breaks for a 4-0 lead, then 6-2 from 5-2.
Six breaks from eleven chances, 70 minutes, and just five points lost behind her first serve. Kostyuk’s evening was undone by her second — she won 21 per cent of those points and served eight double faults to Gauff’s one. It takes Gauff to 4-2 against the Ukrainian on tour.
“Every match is getting better for me,” Gauff said. “I’m being more decisive, my serve is improving and it is getting more and more rare for me to be broken.”
It is her fifth WTA 1000 semifinal of 2026 and her second in Cincinnati, where she won the title in 2023. She also becomes the fourth player in the Open Era to reach multiple semifinals at this tournament before turning 23, after Linda Tuero, Vera Zvonareva and Evonne Goolagong. Kostyuk, at a career-high No. 11 and 5-0 in quarterfinals this season, had won six of her previous seven matches.
An Unfamiliar Opponent
Gauff and Bejlek have never met on tour, and the American was careful not to treat the semifinal as a formality.
“Sara is a great player,” she said. “I watched her a lot in Abu Dhabi this year when she won that title. So I think it’s going to be a tough match. I’m looking forward to it.”
The Semifinal Lineup
Coco Gauff v Sara Bejlek — the 2023 champion against a player in her first WTA 1000 semifinal, and their first meeting on tour.
Iga Swiatek v Jessica Pegula — the defending champion, through after Elena Rybakina retired hurt at 4-1 down in their quarterfinal, against the American who came past Amanda Anisimova 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (4).
Both are scheduled for Saturday. Three of the four semifinalists are seeded inside the top ten; the fourth has beaten the world No. 1 and two more Grand Slam champions to get there.
Results — Quarterfinals, Women’s Singles
S. Bejlek d. [20] M. Keys 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5)
[4] C. Gauff d. [10] M. Kostyuk 6-2, 6-2
[3] J. Pegula d. [9] A. Anisimova 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (4)
[7] I. Swiatek d. [2] E. Rybakina 4-1 ret.
Semifinals: Gauff v Bejlek · Swiatek v Pegula
