Iga Swiatek powers into Toronto semifinals in 64 minutes
- Svitolina prevailed 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, raising her career record against Swiatek to 3-4
Iga Swiatek is through to her second individual semifinal of the year, and she is making quick work of the opposition.
The seventh-seeded Polish player rolled to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over 15th-seeded Diana Shnaider of Russia on Monday in the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open in Toronto.
The blowout lasted just 1 hour, 4 minutes.
In the semifinals, Swiatek will oppose Elina Svitolina, after the ninth-seeded Ukrainian rallied past 16th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.
Through four matches in Toronto, Swiatek has lost only one set.
In her eight set wins, one was by a 6-3 score, while she lost no more than two games in the other seven.
“I’ve been feeling good on the court,” Swiatek said post-match.
“I know how much I practiced and what we did (during) the practices. This is giving me confidence.
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It’s just a matter of being in a good place that day and using it. So I’m trying to do my best every day, keep my routines, be really focused, and for sure, I’m really happy to be in a semifinal.“ Swiatek, a six-time major champion, dominated with her serve despite recording no aces.
She won 88% of her first-serve points (to Shnaider’s 51%) and never faced a break point. Swiatek also committed only eight unforced errors, her lowest total in a match in 2026.
The only previous individual semifinal for Swiatek this year also was against Svitolina, in mid-May on clay in Rome.
Svitolina prevailed 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, raising her career record against Swiatek to 3-4.
The two also met on a hard court in the quarterfinals at Indian Wells, Calif., in March, and Svitolina won 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
Svitolina bounced back from the first-set loss to Alexandrova on Monday by cruising through the second set in 24 minutes.
Svitolina ran her game winning streak to eight in a row by jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the third set, and Alexandrova never recovered.
Svitolina won the title in Rome, adding to her January triumph in Auckland, New Zealand.
This year, she also fell in the final at Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and reached the semifinals of the Australian Open and at Indian Wells and Stuttgart, Germany.
The other two quarterfinal matches are scheduled for Tuesday.
Fourth-seeded Coco Gauff will face 12th-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, and second- seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan will go up against 11th-seeded Naomi Osaka of Japan.
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