On Monday (not before 6 p.m. ET), No. 3 seed Iga Swiatek will face No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini in the Cincinnati Open final, the eighth WTA 1000 event of the 2025 season. Swiatek will be bidding for her 24th career title, and Paolini for her fourth. They will be playing each other for the sixth time; Swiatek leads the head-to-head 5-0.
Cincinnati: Draws | Scores | Order of play
Swiatek has reached her 29th career Hologic WTA Tour final, her 19th at WTA 1000 level or above, her 14th on outdoor hard courts (first since Indian Wells 2024) and her third of 2025. She owns a 23-5 record in tour-level finals to date (12-1 on outdoor hard courts, with her only loss coming to Barbora Krejcikova at Dubai 2023). Swiatek’s 2025 record so far is 48-12.
Paolini has reached her ninth career Hologic WTA Tour final, her fifth at WTA 1000 level or above, her fourth on outdoor hard courts (first since Dubai 2024) and second of 2025. She owns a 3-5 record in tour-level finals to date (2-1 on outdoor hard courts). Paolini’s 2025 record so far is 33-13.
Both players have reached the Cincinnati final for the first time. Paolini’s previous best showing was a quarterfinal run in 2023, while Swiatek was a semifinalist in 2023 and 2024.
When is the women’s singles final?
The women’s singles final will be played on Monday, August 18 not before 6 p.m. ET (10 p.m. GMT) at the IGA Stadium in Montreal.
Cincinnati is on Eastern Daylight Time (GMT -4).
What are the rankings points and prize money at stake?
By making the Montreal final, both Swiatek and Paolini have assured themselves 650 PIF WTA Ranking points and $391,600 in prize money.
Monday’s champion will take home a total of 1,000 points and $752,275.
Former World No. 1 Swiatek will remain at No. 3 on the PIF WTA Rankings if she loses the final, and would move up to No. 2 with a title. She was last ranked No. 2 in May, and dropped to No. 8 in mid-June.
Ninth-ranked Paolini is guaranteed to move up to No. 8 in the rankings following Cincinnati, and would move up to No. 7 with a title. Paolini’s career high is No. 4.
Swiatek and Paolini: Path to the final
Iga Swiatek (has not dropped a set)
- R2: def. Anastasia Potapova 6-1, 6-4
- R3: def. [25] Marta Kostyuk w/o
— Kostyuk was forced to withdraw due to a right wrist injury - R4: def. [SR] Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-3
- QF: def. [28] Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-4
— First win over Kalinskaya in two meetings; avenged loss from 2024 Dubai SF - SF: def. [9] Elena Rybakina 7-5, 6-3
— Came back from 5-3 down in first set
— Improved to 6-4 overall against Rybakina, including 4-0 in 2025
Jasmine Paolini (dropped one set)
- R2: def. Maria Sakkari 7-6(2), 7-6(5)
— Converted her fifth set point in the first set and sixth match point in the second
— Second win in four meetings with Sakkari; avenged loss from 2025 Madrid R3 - R3: def. [26] Ashlyn Krueger 7-6(2) 6-1
- R4: def. Barbora Krejcikova 6-1, 6-2
— Rematch of the 2024 Wimbledon final
— First win over Krejcikova in three meetings - QF: def. [2] Coco Gauff 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
— Improved to 3-2 overall against Gauff, including 3-0 in 2025; first win over Gauff off clay
— Avenged loss from 2023 Cincinnati QF
— Seventh career Top 5 win, third of 2025 (all over Gauff) and second completed such win on outdoor hard courts (following her defeat of Aryna Sabalenka in the 2022 Indian Wells R2) - SF: def. Veronika Kudermetova 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-3
— Second win in five meetings with Kudermetova; first since their first meeting in 2017 Prague qualifying
Best points
How do they stack up?
Swiatek and Paolini will be playing for the sixth time, with Swiatek winning all five of their previous meetings across all surfaces.
They first faced each other in the second round of an ITF W80 Prague event in 2018, when Paolini was ranked No. 182 and Swiatek was a wild card ranked No. 342. Swiatek won 6-2, 6-1 en route to the semifinals.
Their second meeting, and only previous on outdoor hard courts, was in the first round of the 2022 US Open. World No. 1 Swiatek won 6-3, 6-0 and went on to lift her third Grand Slam trophy.
Their third meeting came in the 2024 Roland Garros final — No. 13 seed Paolini’s first of two major finals so far. Swiatek won 6-2, 6-1 to claim her fifth Grand Slam crown.
Their fourth and closest meeting came on the indoor hard courts of Malaga in the 2024 Billie Jean King Cup semifinals, the first of their matches to have occurred with both ranked in the Top 10. Swiatek escaped Paolini 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 — but Italy took the tie 2-1, with Paolini and Sara Errani edging Swiatek and Katarzyna Kawa 7-5, 7-5 in the deciding doubles rubber. Italy went on to claim their fifth Billie Jean King Cup crown.
Their most recent meeting, and first on grass, came in the Bad Homburg semifinals in June. Swiatek won 6-1, 6-3 and two weeks later captured her first Wimbledon title.
Notable stats and streaks
This is the second Cincinnati final since 2004 to be a rematch of a Grand Slam final. In 2013, Victoria Azarenka defeated Serena Williams 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(6) to reverse the result of the 2012 US Open final. It is the third Grand Slam final rematch of this year’s tournament: Paolini avenged her 2024 Wimbledon final loss to Barbora Krejcikova in the fourth round, while Elena Rybakina reversed the 2023 Australian Open final result against Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals.
Four Cincinnati finals since 2004 have foreshadowed the US Open final matchup in the same year: Azarenka and Williams in 2013, Karolina Pliskova and Angelique Kerber in 2016, Azarenka and Naomi Osaka in 2020 (when the tournament was held at Flushing Meadows due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula in 2024. Each time, the Cincinnati final result was reversed at the US Open — except Sabalenka’s two wins over Pegula last year.
Paolini has defeated two Grand Slam champions in a single tournament for the third time in her career following Roland Garros 2024 (Bianca Andreescu and Elena Rybakina) and Rome 2025 (Jelena Ostapenko and Coco Gauff). A win over Swiatek would mark the first time she has defeated three major winners in one tournament.
A win for Swiatek over Paolini would mark the third time in her career she has won her first six matches against one opponent. She also went 6-0 in her first six meetings with Coco Gauff and Zheng Qinwen.
A win for Swiatek over Paolini would also mark the first time Swiatek has defeated multiple Top 10 players in one tournament since winning Roland Garros 2024.
By reaching the final, Swiatek has become the second player this year to secure qualification for the WTA Finals Riyadh, following Aryna Sabalenka.
Swiatek and Paolini are the first Polish and Italian players respectively to reach the Cincinnati women’s singles final. Jannik Sinner became the first Italian champion of either the women’s or men’s event last year, and has made the ATP final again this year. This marks the second time in 2025 that Paolini and Sinner have both reached a combined WTA 1000 final following Rome, where Paolini was crowned champion while Sinner fell to Carlos Alcaraz.