Samsonova had been leading the head-to-head series 2-1 after defeating Sabalenka right around this time last year at the WTA Premier 1000 tournament in Montreal. However, the Russian never came close to replicating that feat in Cincinnati. Sabalenka gained an upper hand for the first time by breaking at 3-2 in the opening set before racing to a 4-0 lead in the second.

The Belarusian did not get broken a single time in the match.

In the previous rounds of this WTA Premier 1000 event, Sabalenka knocks off Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto (6-3, 6-4) and Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (7-5, 6-2).

Samsonova, ranked No 17, defeated China’s Xinyu Wang (6-4, 6-4), Poland’s Magda Linette (7-6 (10), 6-1) and Armenian lucky loser Elina Avanesyan (4-6, 6-0, 6-3) to earn her place in the last eight.

Cincinnati WTA 1000, other last eight results:

• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Paula Badosa
• Jessica Pegula vs. Leylah Fernandez
• Iga Swiatek beat Mirra Andreeva: 4-6, 6-3, 7-5