Preview Cincinnati Open 2024 Women's Final: Jessica Pegula aims for US-Canada double in superb showdown with Aryna Sabalenka

The first final on Monday at the Cincinnati Open is the women's clash as Jessica Pegula faces Aryna Sabalenka. Our preview looks ahead to the top tie between two of the most in-form players in the WTA right now.

Pegula in particular is aiming to become the first player since Evonne Goolagong and the first in the Open Era to complete the US-Canada double of Toronto and Cincinnati. Whilst Sabalenka has been slowly gathering momentum as of late.

Our preview gathers their runs to the final, any other storylines of note and also Head to Head for a comprehensive guide to the opening final of the day in Mason, Ohio.

For both of the players in the final, they have had recent struggles. Pegula spent most of her early season on the sidelines with injury and didn't play the whole clay court season as such.

She has always been ultra consistent though and returned straight away to win a title in Berlin and has often been a player to post disappointment out of the window quite quickly. Case and point is a poor Wimbledon and then Olympic Games was followed by heading straight to Canada to win the title.

`There she defeated a lot of bonafide contenders and a lot of Americans at that. Including Peyton Stearns, Amanda Anisimova in the final as well as Diana Shnaider who has been one of the leading lights on the rise this season on the WTA Tour. She is on a 9 match unbeaten run and truthfully she had an even more difficult run this week in Cincinnati.

Starting off against Karolina Muchova who is of course a quality operator but isn't yet to her peak again after being injured for nearly a year. But still three sets. Taylor Townsend who has shown form as of late was fairly simple. While Leylah Fernandez was defeated in a real battle in three sets before she returned from rain delays and a subsequent slump to see off Paula Badosa.

All have shown form as of late or have it in their locker so if she wants to complete this double, she has done it the hard way. But also Pegula will have to deal with differing pressure.

All eyes going into the US Open will be on Coco Gauff given that she has not been in form recently an heads into her title defence perhaps soul searching more than the confidence of last year. Pegula would have to take the mantle on as a result if it went wrong but perhaps less is expected of her this year so it is more of a free flowing Pegula than usual.

The main pressure will be completing the double this weekend and then taking it into the US Open with confidence and not going out early after a few good weeks which can be a curse not only for Pegula but for other players too.

“I think I’m just finding my game a little bit and then competing and being smart out there,” Pegula said when asked if she was in the zone.

But she is wary of what is to come. “It seems like she’s been playing really, really good,” Pegula said of Sabalenka. “Obviously can serve really big, so it’s always tough to deal with opponents that have weapons like that, where they can get a lot of free points on a faster hard court.”

It has been an interesting few months for Sabalenka who missed Wimbledon due to a shoulder injury and had doubts whether she still had issues with that even going into this week.

But she has made steady progression in the past couple of weeks which has made her force herself back into contention in a multitude of ways. She will be one of the favourites for the US Open perhaps due to doubts over Swiatek, Gauff and Rybakina.

Also she has forced Gauff to likely play Swiatek earlier due to moving back into the World No.2 spot next week so it is very much looking back to Sabalenka's best who chimed. "I'm back, I'm back" after defeating Swiatek on Sunday.

But it is looking likely she is. She has only been defeated in the past two weeks by players who have been on fire. Marie Bouzkova who made the Washington final, Anisimova who also made the Toronto final. But it has been Quarter-Final to semi-final to final so a steady progression over recent weeks for the third seed this week.

Also for her, she has managed to get over a recent Swiatek hoodoo managing to make their Head to Head now 8-4 in favour of the Pole with an emphatic win which no doubt will give her reams of confidence. It is a match we don't get all too often either.

Sabalenka leads their Head to Head 4-2, but since the start of 2022 they have only played thrice. On hard courts though, Pegula leads pivotally 2-1 with a win last Autumn in Cancun at the WTA Finals being the last effort. But Cincinnati has proven to separate the Head to Heads.

Sinner for instance in the men's final had a shocking Head to Head record against Zverev and erased it with his win. Sabalenka defeating Swiatek showed that it wasn't one for the form books. It is the fastest court on tour this season providing a different test and a real task for those playing on it. Pegula and Sabalenka in particular seem to be the leading beneficiaries from it all an are leading the charge into a final between two of the best WTA stars of the moment.

Also it will likely gleam some kind of a favourite ranking ahead of the US Open and who will likely come out on top. But once again the chatter going into Flushing Meadows will surround the fact that it is open again for another Grand Slam with Jasmine Paolini for instance coming out of the woodwork to clean up.

But can Sabalenka and Pegula join the party themselves after this week? Who knows but for now Cincinnati will have a new winner and a deserved one at that.