Sabalenka’s U.S. Open Defence Hit by Cincinnati Exit, Paul Overcomes Zverev
World number one Aryna Sabalenka’s preparations for her U.S. Open title defence suffered a major blow after she was stunned by Czech teenager Sara Bejlek at the Cincinnati Open, while American Tommy Paul produced a remarkable comeback to eliminate third seed Alexander Zverev. Bejlek, ranked outside the top 100, delivered the biggest victory of her career with a 7-6(7), 6-4 triumph over the reigning world number one in the round of 16. The 20-year-old showed remarkable composure after falling behind in both sets, fighting back from 5-1 down in the opening-set tiebreak and recovering from a 4-1 deficit in the second set to complete one of the tournament’s biggest upsets. Bejlek sealed the victory in just over two hours to record her first career win against a top-10 opponent and book a quarter-final meeting with fellow Grand Slam champion Madison Keys. The defeat also opened the door for Elena Rybakina to reclaim the world number one ranking. The Kazakh player will move to th...