Swiatek sinks Svitolina to set up Rybakina title clash in Toronto

What the report says

Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina advanced to the Toronto women’s tennis final after winning their semifinal matches at the hard-court event, a key US Open warm-up tournament, on Wednesday and Thursday as reported by Al Jazeera. Swiatek, seeded seventh, defeated Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in a rain-delayed match, while Rybakina, the world number two, came from a set down to beat fourth-seeded Coco Gauff 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

Swiatek reached her first final of the year and her first title match since last year’s Seoul event. The article noted that she improved her head-to-head record against Svitolina to 5-3, after a contest in which Swiatek opened strongly, lost momentum in the second set and then recovered in the third. Svitolina, who won the Canadian title in 2017, had been chasing another WTA 1000 final.

Rybakina’s win continued a strong Canadian run after earlier comeback victories, including against Naomi Osaka in the quarterfinals, and kept her in contention for a third title of the season after wins in Melbourne and Stuttgart. The result also has ranking implications, with Rybakina moving closer to world number one Aryna Sabalenka before the US Open begins on August 31, according to Al Jazeera. The final adds another high-profile meeting between two of the tour’s top players as the summer hard-court season builds toward New York.