The tournament is back on schedule despite the rain, and the semifinals are set for Saturday.
Simona Halep vs. Aryna Sabalenka
What a week for 20-year-old Aryna Sabalenka. Much like Stefanos Tsitsipas last week, Sabalenka has pulled off upset after upset in this draw. Coming off her victory over Caroline Wozniacki last week, she’s now defeated four current or former top 10 players this week: Konta, Pliskova, Garcia, and Keys. And in two of those matches, she saved match points. Yesterday was actually her most comfortable win of the week, her only straight-set victory in this tournament, over Madison Keys. At the same time, Simona Halep deserves quite the applause for getting through to her second straight semifinal in a second consecutive week of rain delays. Halep won two matches on Friday, and economically so in straight sets. As Chris Fowler of ESPN highlighted, Simona would become the first woman to win the back-to-back weeks in Canada and Cincinnati if she prevails this week. Halep easily won her only previous meeting against Sabalenka, at the beginning of this year in Shenzhen. But as her coach, Darren Cahill, spoke about on EPSN on Friday, he was impressed was Sabalenka’s power and potential during that match. The experience and defensive edge held by Halep should get her through this, but count out Sabalenka this week at your own peril. In the final on Sunday, the winner here will play the winner of Petra Kvitova and Kiki Bertens.
Marin Cilic vs. Novak Djokovic
Djokovic has owned Cilic throughout their careers, at least until recently. Novak won their first 14 matches, but Marin has taken their last two. Cilic finally got Djokovic at the Paris Masters in 2016, and then saved match point and came back from a set down to defeat him in the final of Queen’s Club in June of this year. Djokovic of course has upped his level since that match, winning his 13th Major at Wimbledon. And just yesterday, he played his best match of the summer hard court season against Milos Raonic. The Canadian had an early break in each of the three sets they played, but Novak found a way back in two of those three sets despite some huge serving from Milos. Cilic is also heating up nicely this summer. He made the quarters last week in Toronto, where he dominated Nadal in their opening set before Rafa found a way into the match. And Cilic played his best match of this week yesterday in defeating Pablo Carreno Busta in straights. If Marin were to win this title, he’d be seeded within the top four at the US Open, which would considerably improve his place in the draw. Can he make it three in a row against Djokovic? I suspect that will be challenging, as Novak is motivated to win the only Masters 1,000 title he doesn’t yet own. Whoever wins will meet either Roger Federer or David Goffin tomorrow.
