Iga Swiatek hasn’t had the season she usually does, but there are recent signs that she’s getting back to her top form. Monday night in Toronto was another example.
Toronto: Scores | Order of play | Draws
The No. 7 seed completely overwhelmed No. 15 seed Diana Shnaider — who had just beaten Jessica Pegula — in their quarterfinal match, losing only three games in a quick 6-2, 6-1 win that lasted just 64 minutes.
“I’ve been feeling good on the court. I know how much I practiced and what we did [during] the practices,” Swiatek shared during her on-court interview. “This is giving me confidence. 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.”
With this victory, Swiatek improved her record against Shnaider to 2-0 at the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz level and advanced to her 23rd WTA 1000 semifinal. Since this format began in 2009, only Serena Williams (53.1%) has reached semifinals at a higher rate than Swiatek (48.9%). Only three players have made it to more WTA 1000 semifinals than Swiatek — Simona Halep (29), Serena Williams (26), and Victoria Azarenka (24). She’s tied with Agnieszka Radwanska at 23.
Swiatek’s journey to this latest semifinal hasn’t been without some drama — just look at her Round of 16 win over Marta Kostyuk — but Monday night was smooth sailing. She broke serve right away, played strongly on serve herself, and broke again for 5-2 as Shnaider struggled with several forehand errors; the last one gave Swiatek the first set.
The second set was more of the same story. Shnaider showed glimpses of skill but fell behind when Swiatek broke for 2-1 and never looked back from there. She won six straight games and finished off the match shortly after hitting the one-hour mark.
Here are some key stats from Swiatek’s commanding quarterfinal win.
0: Break points faced. Swiatek wasn’t challenged on serve at all, never facing a break point and rarely finding herself in tough situations throughout seven service games.
8: Unforced errors. While Shnaider struggled with consistency, Swiatek maintained control with only eight unforced errors-her lowest count in any match this season.
10: Out of 11. With semifinals now happening in both Toronto and Montreal, Swiatek has reached the final four at ten out of eleven current WTA 1000 event locations; Wuhan is the only exception.
67.8: Winning percentage against Top 20 players. Since1990, only Steffi Graf (82.1%), Serena Williams (75.3%), Monica Seles (70.4%), and Martina Hingis (67.9%) have boasted higher career win rates against Top 20 opponents.
67.8 – Since1990, Iga Swiatek(67.8%,101 -48)onlytrailsfourplayersforcareerwinrateagainst WTA top20opponents-Steffi Graf(82.1%), Serena Williams(75.3%), Monica Seles(70.4%)and Martina Hingis(67.9%). Levels.#NBO26 | @NBOtoronto @WTA pic. twitter. com/gzxs R5k Je V
– Opta Ace (@Opta Ace) August11 ,2026
88.5: Percentof first-serve pointswon. Swiatekwon23of26first-serve points, h erbestmarkoftheseason.Next up
Swiatekwill face whoever wins Monday’ssecondquarterfinal between No.9seed Elina Svitolinaand No.16seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Shehaswonfourofsevencareer meetingsagainst Svitolina , though Ukrainianclaimedbothoftheirmatchupsthisseason–in Indian Wellsand Rome–inthree sets. Swiatekh as wonsixofeightmeetingsagainst Alexandrova, includ ingtheirmostrecent clashinlastyear’s Seoul final.
Source link
Source link
