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Sabalenka needed one hour and 48 minutes to beat Swiatek and book her place in the final.

The Belarusian entered this heavyweight clash having lost on all three of her previous semi-final appearances at Cincinnati, falling short of the showpiece match in 2018, 2022 and 2023.

However, she produced a fine performance to end that hoodoo here, preying on a below-par showing from Swiatek, who won only six of 30 points on her second serve throughout.

Sabalenka made her intentions clear by breaking to love in the second game of the encounter, and although Swiatek hit straight back, another break in the sixth game was enough to hand her the opening set.

Both players were tested on their own serve in the second set, with Sabalenka saving four of five break points faced while converting three of 13 she generated on Swiatek's serve.

Swiatek saved a remarkable 10 match points, eight of them against her own serve, as Sabalenka was forced to clinch her victory the hard way, but a fifth break of the match finally got her over the line.

Sabalenka has now made five WTA Tour-level finals in 2024, the joint-most alongside Swiatek and Elena Rybakina.

Sabalenka's victory was her fourth over a world No.1 at WTA 1000 events since the format's 2009 introduction, the joint-most of any player alongside Petra Kvitova.

She has now reached a total of 29 WTA Tour finals, the most of any player on the tour since 2017.

Swiatek is second with 26.