Bejlek continues dreaming in Cincinnati and meets Gauff in the semifinals of Cincinnati 2026
The tournament's great revelation, Sara Bejlek, defeats the American Madison Keys 3-6, 6-4, and 7-6 (5), staging a remarkable comeback and reaching the semifinals of a WTA 1000 for the first time in her career. Her opponent will be Coco Gauff, the fourth seed and Cincinnati champion in 2023, who routed Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-2.
Bejlek's story in Cincinnati seems straight out of a script. The Czech, ranked 35th in the world, has eliminated three Grand Slam champions: Barbora Krejcikova, Aryna Sabalenka, and Madison Keys. Her victory over the world number one was particularly surprising, after coming back from 5-1 down in the tie-break of the first set and 4-1 in the second.
Bejlek doesn’t care about favorites
In the match against Keys, the 2019 Cincinnati champion, the Czech proved once again that she is not ready to wake up from her dream; after losing the first set, she managed to level the match and took it to a third set that was decided in the tie-break. There, the Czech kept her cool and ended up winning 7-5.
Her opponent will be Coco Gauff, who arrives at the semifinal with completely different vibes. The American showed no mercy to Marta Kostyuk and won decisively 6-2 and 6-2 in just 71 minutes, thus reaching her second semifinal in Cincinnati, a tournament she already conquered in 2023.
A duel between two completely different tennis players
The duel promises to bring together two completely opposite stories. On one side, Gauff, one of the big stars of the circuit and a Grand Slam champion. On the other side, Bejlek, who is living the most important week of her career and has already shown that she doesn’t care about rankings.
Coco Gauff to the crowd after beating Kostyuk in Cincinnati
“I don’t know who was saying ‘I’m in love with the Coco,’ but I like that one. That was a good one. And it’s the right Coco!”
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/Wp0cjVzCgD— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) August 22, 2026
The Czech arrives fired up and confident. Now she will face Gauff, another huge challenge on her path to a final that seemed impossible.
This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Bejlek sigue soñando en Cincinnati y se cita con Gauff en las semifinales de Cincinnati 2026