Coco Gauff vs Liudmila Samsonova — R64 — Cincinnati Open

The first serve separated this one, and it separated it inside a single set. Gauff won 64 percent of her first-serve points in an opener in which she never earned a break point, then 88 percent in the second, seven of her ten aces landing in that set alone. Then the return arrived. Breaks in game 4 for 3-1 and game 6 for 5-1 closed the third, and Samsonova, the better player on second-serve points at 44 percent to 37, still lost the points count 83-76 across 2 hours, 32 minutes. The 2023 champion at Cincinnati moves on, while Samsonova remains without a win over the American on record.