Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina advanced to the Toronto hardcourt final on Wednesday after defeating Elina Svitolina 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 and Coco Gauff 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 respectively, setting up a title match scheduled for Thursday.
Swiatek and Rybakina to meet in Toronto final after defeating Svitolina and Gauff
Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina advanced to the Toronto hardcourt final on Wednesday after defeating Elina Svitolina 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 and Coco Gauff 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 respectively, setting up a title match scheduled for Thursday.
Seventh-seeded Swiatek, a six-time major champion and former world number one, is in her first final of the year. Her last title came in Seoul nearly a year ago. The win over Svitolina improved her head-to-head record against the Ukrainian to 5-3; Svitolina had won twice against Swiatek earlier in the season.
The Swiatek-Svitolina match was delayed more than an hour by rain. Swiatek built a 4-0 lead in the opening set but Svitolina saved two set points before the first set was closed out. Svitolina then took the second set in a run before Swiatek broke her opponent to love to go 5-3 in the third and held serve to close out the match.
Svitolina, who won the Canadian title in 2017, was seeking her third WTA 1000-level final of the season, having won in Rome and reached the final in Dubai.
World number two Rybakina, representing Kazakhstan, is seeking her third title of the season following victories in Melbourne at the Australian Open and in Stuttgart. She had also rallied from a set down to defeat Naomi Osaka in the quarterfinals. Gauff had reached the semifinals via a walkover. The win over Gauff finished shortly before 1am local time. Rybakina's run in Toronto is moving her closer to world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the rankings ahead of the US Open, which begins August 31.
- The source does not state Svitolina's response or comments after the match.
- The source does not state Gauff's response or comments after the match.
- The source does not state the exact seedings of Swiatek and Rybakina relative to each other in this tournament.
- The source does not state Rybakina's current ranking number relative to Sabalenka beyond describing her as world number two and noting she is 'inching closer' to number one.
- The source does not state the specific ranking points at stake in the final or the gap between Rybakina and Sabalenka in the rankings.
Read the original at Al Jazeera English