TORONTO — Iga Swiatek made an early arrival at the National Bank Open, aiming to take full advantage of the extra days to fine-tune her game for a remarkable tournament run.
And it appears that her strategy paid off brilliantly.
Swiatek triumphed over Elina Svitolina with a score of 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 on Wednesday evening, marking her first WTA Tour final appearance in nearly a year.
“The early arrival was really beneficial,” Swiatek revealed. “Right from the start, we felt well-prepared and at ease during the tournament.”
The six-time Grand Slam champion is now set to conclude the 12-day WTA 1000 event with a highly anticipated showdown in Thursday’s final.
She will face off against second-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, who secured her place in the final after overcoming fourth-seeded American Coco Gauff with a score of 5-7, 6-2, 6-2. Swiatek and Rybakina have evenly split their previous encounters, making for an exciting matchup.
In the decisive set, Swiatek broke Svitolina’s serve without losing a single point to take a 5-3 lead, ultimately converting her second match point to seal the victory.
It took the seventh seed two hours and 17 minutes to secure her win, which was initially delayed by about an hour due to inclement weather.
The ninth-seeded Svitolina faced challenges early in the match, quickly falling behind as she struggled with errors. Swiatek capitalized, maneuvering her opponent from side to side and demonstrating strong net play.
However, the tide turned in the second set as Svitolina began earning service breaks, showcasing her impressive power and range from the baseline, while Swiatek searched for answers.
With the set back and forth, a tie-break seemed inevitable, but Svitolina’s double fault on triple-break point in the final set set the stage for Swiatek’s decisive advance.
“I just had to find my rhythm,” admitted Swiatek. “I’m glad I stayed patient throughout the match, didn’t lose hope, and adapted my game to find success in the third set.”
Having won five of their eight career matches, Swiatek is set to make her first WTA 1000 final appearance since her Cincinnati victory last summer.
Her last WTA Tour final was in Seoul last September, where she clinched her 25th career title.
This year’s semifinalists are all formidable, with all four players ranked in the top 10.
The last occurrence of this at the National Bank Open dates back to 2000 when the top-ranked Martina Hingis triumphed over seventh-ranked Serena Williams. The other semifinalists that year included sixth-ranked Conchita Martinez and ninth-ranked Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario.
Canada’s Victoria Mboko, last year’s champion in Montreal, was unable to defend her title this year due to a knee injury.
In doubles action, the top-seeded pair of China’s Shuai Zhang and Czechia’s Katerina Siniakova triumphed over Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Britain’s Olivia Nicholls with a score of 6-1, 7-5.
Zhang and Siniakova are set to confront Italy’s Sara Errani and American Nicole Melichar-Martinez in the doubles final on Thursday.
The tournament boasts an impressive prize purse of US$7.43 million.
