Sara Bejlek upsets Madison Keys to set up Coco Gauff semi in Cincinnati

On 22 August 2026 Sara Bejlek beat Madison Keys 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-5) at the Cincinnati Open to reach her first WTA 1000 semi-final, where she will meet fourth seed Coco Gauff.

Czech Bejlek is unseeded and 20 years old and is listed as the world number 35. She won the Abu Dhabi Open as a qualifier in February for her first WTA title earlier this year. The Cincinnati run is the deepest of her career at this level.

Unseeded Bejlek has taken down three major champions during this tournament, including world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round and Barbora Krejcikova earlier in the event. Those victories contributed to her progression into the last four at the WTA 1000 event. She is seeking a second WTA title after her February triumph in Abu Dhabi.

Against Keys, Bejlek recovered from a set down and from 3-1 behind in the second set, winning five of the next six games to force a decider. She then came back from 4-2 down in the decisive tie-break to close out the match. The quarter-final lasted two hours and 37 minutes.

The world number 35 said: "We had a kind of big talk with my team a couple of weeks ago, and since that moment I feel that it's going quite well and I'm getting better in the believing in myself and improving also physically on the court."

American fourth seed Coco Gauff reached the semi-finals with a 6-2 6-2 win over Ukraine's 10th-seeded Marta Kostyuk to make it a third consecutive semi-final appearance, having lost in the last four at Wimbledon and the Canadian Open earlier this month. Gauff said: "I didn't realize how good I was at it until Wimbledon," Gauff said. "Everyone has been telling me to come to the net more. Actually, Chris Evert has been texting me sometimes to come to the net more. And I tell her yeah, I'm going to, and then I just don't. I finally did at Wimbledon and I won so many points that way. "And obviously here, there's just a big difference when you're able to finish the point at the net."

Bejlek now prepares to face fourth seed Coco Gauff in the Cincinnati semi-final. The final Grand Slam of the year, the US Open, starts in New York on 30 August.