Pegula's three-hour epic sets up all‑US final

Jessica Pegula beat Iga Swiatek in a match that lasted almost three hours to book her spot in the final of the Cincinnati Open.

Third seed Pegula won 7-5 4-6 6-4 against the six-time Grand Slam champion in a contest featuring 13 breaks of serve.

Pegula and Coco Gauff, who beat unseeded Czech Sara Bejlek 6-4 6-1 earlier on Saturday, will contest the first all‑American women’s final in Cincinnati in 56 years on Sunday.

Rosie Casals beat Nancy Richey in the 1970 final.

Pegula said: “I felt like we were playing well at times and then not playing well at times, so it was really tough to get a gauge on the match.

“Sometimes there’s matches like that where you just see a lot of breaks back and forth, and I just kept telling myself to not get too upset about it.

“It is a little emotionally draining.”

Tiafoe and Fils set up historic men’s final

Frances Tiafoe beat fellow American Brandon Nakashima 7-5 6-3 to set up a final against Arthur Fils of France.

It will be the first time two black players have met in an ATP Masters 1000 final.

Tiafoe, who lost to Jannik Sinner in the 2024 Cincinnati Open final, said: “It’s awesome for a bunch of kids looking up to us and [who] want to be in our position. That’s what it’s about.

“It’s always nice to be a part of history. Hopefully we can have more big finals like this having people of colour, and I’m super pumped about it.”

Only two black men have won Masters 1000 titles – American Ben Shelton and Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.