Cincinnati Open WTA Day Six Round-Up | Aryna Sabalenka coasts, Coco Gauff through and Iva Jovic out

The remaining third round matches completed at the Cincinnati Open on Tuesday with Mirra Andreeva, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff among the leading lights through in Mason, Ohio.

Andreeva advanced to the fourth round of the Cincinnati Open in two sets converting her fourth match point to quell a strong challenge from the 32nd seed Janice Tjen in just an hour and 42 minutes 6-1, 7-6(5). The Russian who reached the Quarter-Finals in her only previous appearance at the tournament back in 2024 has now won consecutive matches for the first time since her Roland Garros win in June. She'll next face Marta Kostyuk who averted a strong examination against Sloane Stephens.

Kostyuk leads their Head-to-Head 2-1 albeit Andreeva won their last meeting at Roland Garros. Andreeva cruised through a 28-minute opening set against Tjen and saved the only break point she faced in the second game of the match.

Andreeva pounced on 10 unforced errors including nine from the forehand wing. Tjen resumed play after the opening set with her racquet hand strapped and her level rose from there. She managed to avert forehand errors and produced several superb winners and went for the lines with her shots. Tjen running around her forehand struck brilliant winners inside-in down the line and she constructed point superbly.

Tjen aimed to seal her first top 10 win and win back-to-back matches for the first time since Dubai in February. Down 4-3, she saved two break points that would've left Andreeva serving for the match. Down 5-4, she came through a six-deuce hold saving two match points along the way.

Andreeva though sealed it with grit. The 19-year-old kept a cool head throughout Tjen's increasing pressure. A hold at 6-5 was particularly impressive. Tjen had all the momentum but Andreeva responded with an ace, a backhand winner and four straight points to inch ahead.

In the tie-break, Andreeva trailed 4-3 and once again found a backhand winner and an ace to retake the lead. Down 5-4, Tjen cracked. Tjen went two big and the forehand went wide to give Andreeva match points. She converted those with a forehand down the line.

"I feel like in the second set, she started serving better. I feel her first serve percentage got higher, and I felt that because I was struggling a little bit with returning her serve," Andreeva said to the press. "She was placing the ball pretty well, closer to the lines, and I just felt like if I don't hold my serve, then I'm going to be in big trouble.

"I was constantly trying to tell myself 'Mirra, you got to hold. Mirra, you just have to hold your serve.' It was 5-all, 0-30 down, I was like, 'No way, I'm gonna lose my serve now.' After having many match points, I just tried to not to think of what's going to happen. I really tried to focus on holding my serve, and it kind of actually helped not to think about those missed opportunities that I've had."

While Aryna Sabalenka coasted past Wang Xinyu winning in just 54 minutes. She won 6-1, 6-3 in their second career meeting and to book her place in the Round of 16. Sabalenka broke serve four times to set a fourth-round tie against unseeded ace Sara Bejlek who won the Abu Dhabi Open earlier in the year. Sabalenka did not face a break point in the match and only lost six points in eight service games.

She won 12 out of 13 points in the match after missing her first serve and only hit five unforced errors in victory to go alongside 17 winners. Sabalenka has now reached the Last 16 or better at 45 WTA 1000 events in her career and now faces Bejlek who saw off Ekaterina Alexandrova in an upset win 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Coco Gauff also sealed her spot in the fourth round of the 2026 Cincinnati Open courtesy of a 6-1, 7-6 win over American, Ann Li. Gauff now improves to 4-0 all-time against Ann Li.

Gauff held serve during all of her service games in a 29-minute first set withstanding two break point chances for Li in a game that saw four deuces midway through the first set. Gauff won 68% of her first service points in the match. The second set was a bit different and though Li dropped her serve in the opening game, she bounced back. Li went a break up at 5-3 but service woes were there as Gauff broke back and she breezed through to a sixth WTA 1000 fourth round of the season.

"Honestly today was a little bit tougher for me coming from night to day, trying to control the ball a little bit, but overall I'm happy with how I played," Gauff said to press. "Ann's not an easy opponent to play. She has a lot of variety in her game so I'm happy to get through."

"I think today I was just trying to accelerate a little bit more because I found at first I was trying to focus on keeping it in and keeping it down because we were both missing really long a lot," Gauff added. "Here with these conditions, if you let up a little bit, the balls just going to fly."

She now faces Marie Bouzkova who was the final player through today. She saw off Iva Jovic late night in two tie-breaks. The 19-year-old couldn't push it to a decider and in the first set, Bouzkova won the tie-break 7-0. The second was more of a battle with Jovic looking likely to send it all the way but Bouzkova got there in the end and won it 7-5 narrowly on her fourth match point.