Iga Swiatek plays her best match to reach semis in Toronto

 

Iga Swiatek hasn’t had the season she’s accustomed to, but there have been signs lately that she’s finding her best tennis again. Monday night in Toronto offered another one.

The No. 7 seed overwhelmed No. 15 seed Diana Shnaider -- who was coming off a win over Jessica Pegula-- in their Toronto quarterfinal, dropping just three games in a 6-2, 6-1 rout that lasted 64 minutes.

"I've been feeling good on the court. I know how much I practiced and what we did [during] the practices," Swiatek said in 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 the win, Swiatek improved to 2-0 against Shnaider at the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz level and advanced to her 23rd WTA 1000 semifinal. Since the format's introduction in 2009, only Serena Williams (53.1%) has reached a higher rate of semifinals than Swiatek (48.9%). Only three players have reached 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 path to this latest semifinal hasn't been without drama -- see her Round of 16 win over Marta Kostyuk-- but Monday night was stress-free. She broke in the opening game, dominated on serve and broke again for 5-2 as Shnaider unraveled under a string of forehand errors, the last of which handed Swiatek the opening set.

The second set saw more of the same. Shnaider produced flashes, but Swiatek broke for 2-1 and never looked back. She won the final six games and crossed the finish line a few minutes past the one-hour mark.

"Today I just followed the plan. I was really focused. I feel like I'm for sure better focused," Swiatek said in her post-match press conference. "I'm able to follow the plan a little bit easier because I feel the ball well on my racket. It's a nice tournament where there's not much fuss around, you can really focus on your job. I just have a good time on court."

Here are the numbers to know behind Swiatek's dominant quarterfinal victory.

0: Break points faced. Swiatek wasn't threatened on serve, never facing a break point and rarely landing in tight spots across seven service games.

8: Unforced errors. While Shnaider struggled to keep the ball in play, Swiatek was squeaky clean. Her eight unforced errors are her fewest in a match this season.

10: Out of 11. With semifinals now in both Toronto and Montreal, Swiatek has reached the last four at 10 of the 11 current WTA 1000 event locations. Wuhan is the lone exception.

67.8: Winning percentage against Top 20 players. Since 1990, only Steffi Graf (82.1%), Serena Williams (75.3%), Monica Seles (70.4%) and Martina Hingis (67.9%) have a higher career win rate against Top 20 opponents.

88.5: Percent of first-serve points won. Swiatek won 23 of 26 first-serve points, her best mark of the season.

In the semis, Swiatek will face No. 9 seed Elina Svitolina, who rallied from a set down to defeat No. 16 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 in 1 hour and 33 minutes in Monday's second quarterfinal.

She has won four of seven career meetings against Svitolina, though the Ukrainian claimed both of their matchups this season -- in Indian Wells and Rome -- in three sets.

wtatennis.com


This was Iga's best match of the season on hardcourt and maybe even in general this year. She mentioned in post match that Kostyuk match was that for her and it was in part because she finally showed belief and started playing her game again. 

But this was her best match from a level perspective. From beginning to end she served well, returned well, and moved well. 

She looked self assured on her shots and stayed in the zone concentration wise all the way though. There were no 2nd set level dips in sight. It was an emphatic 64 minute straight sets win.

I've mentioned in past blog posts how I've been waiting for Iga's game to start clicking and that in time it would. The Kostyuk match definitely feels like the catalyst of just that. 

For the first time in months I was actually able to watch an Iga match stress free because she looked comfortable on court and everything looked like it flowed. 

The majority of which has to be attributed to the calmness and patience on court. It has really allowed her to construct, control and extend rallies better, 

And of course using her movement and return skills. Something that has felt sorely lacking in her game since last year. 

The stress would make her panic so much she would completely forget about her footwork and revert to ball bashing and over hitting from the back of the baseline. Feels like in this tournament she has rediscovered certain skills again. 

It could be all the extra time she had to train with her new coach after Wimbledon, allowed her to work on those things and it's paying dividence. 

Or it could also be as she herself has admitted the simple fact of the pressure being off. The pressure of not being a 4 time Roland Garros Champ on clay and the Wimbledon defending champion as well. With that part of the season finally behind her. 

Whatever the case I hope it continues because it has allowed her to play more clearly and problem solve. Any tournament where Iga sticks around to the end is all the better for it.

Iga's next opponent Svitolina will test everything I just talked about, but if Iga can continue implementing things the way she has this entire week I think she just might get win. 

The win over Shnaider  matched Iga's  best result in Canada having reached the semis of Montreal a few years back. Also making this just her second semi final of the year.

Words can't express how badly I want this win for her. Especially given Svitolina has been the one to stop Iga's momentum form-wise twice this year. In matches where to be honest Iga didn't put up much of a challenge. 

A win would also give her the first final of the year which would be a crucial confidence booster before the last Slam of the season not to mention the rest of the year and beyond.

Night conditions will probably favor Svitolina, and Iga will no doubt be made to work hard. But I don't know I have a good feeling about this one, I think she'll keep a cool head and finally prevail. 

Jazda!

Iga Swiatek battles past Kostyuk to make the quarterfinals in Toronto

A three-set win for Iga Swiatek against Marta Kostyuk on Saturday didn't just put the former World No. 1 into the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open for a second time. It also snapped one of the most notable droughts on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz.

Swiatek had lost her last seven three-set matches against Top 20 players dating back to last September -- and she would've had reason to despair after losing the first set against Kostyuk from twice being a break ahead. But instead, the six-time Grand Slam singles champion rebounded in a big way -- and never lost serve in the second and third sets to score a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory.

In all, Swiatek saved nine break points across the second and third sets to score any kind of Top 20 win for the first time since the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in May: three at 2-0, and three more when she served for the set. The tension of the moment was later evident in a five-deuce final game, where she needed six match points -- and saved two break points -- to wrap up the win in just over 2 hours.

Afterward, Swiatek confessed she "knew [she] could play better" after a first set where the two players combined for seven service breaks -- and focused on being "more brave."

"In the second I came out ... playing a bit faster and more heavy, and pushing Marta a little bit more," she said. "I knew I can, you know, keep being solid while doing that. So then, like, game by game I felt like it was a good plan and a good choice, and I went for it."

The effort also snapped Kostyuk's winning streak in three-set matches. She had won her last seven dating back to a first-round loss to Elsa Jacquemot at the Australian Open in January, where she suffered an ankle injury.

Swiatek will next face No. 15 seed Diana Shnaider, who scored a milestone of her own by beating Jessica Pegul. 

The 6-3, 6-3 win for Shnaider against the two-time champion was her first in five attempts and reversed the result of their semifinal match at the Mubadala DC Open last week.

wtatennis.com

Where do I even start with this one. 

Wild feels like an understatement. 

I have seen a lot of Iga matches over the past 6 years, but what I witnessed in that first set was something else. 

I mean Iga literally won 1 point on serve. 

One. 

She hang in it simply with great returns, but just could not hold serve every time she got the advantage. 

Once she lost that first set things looked really bleak. I thought, oh no here we go now Iga is just going to crumble and start overhitting and this will be Roland Garros all over again.

But I have never been happier to be so very wrong. 

Iga kept her focus, composure and most importantly patience and instead started playing more aggressive rather than passive. 

She made Marta self destruct (something that's been mostly happening to her of late). 

She did it by cutting down her unforced errors, with her forehand, some absolutely vintage returning and sliding (oh how I've missed her defensive sliding!). 

It really felt like the Iga of old (which might seem like I've said a lot lately) but this time truly felt like it. 

Especially because she did it when things weren't going her way and she was a set down in a pretty horrendous way.

Iga of earlier this year would have just given up.

But here she really problem solved and kept fighting just refused to give up even after losing 3 match points and having to finish it on her 6th. 

That refusal to lose felt like Grand Slam champion mentality again.

I think I'm most proud of the way she didn't take her foot of the pedal when she got the momentum and just forced Marta to feel all the pressure by simply extending rallies and playing solid. 

I realize I'm overexcited because I just missed her tennis so much and that anything could happen still, but this felt like such an enormous stepping stone. 

It was just her 3rd three set comeback this year, and you could see by the emotional roar at the end of the match just how much it meant to her. 

Things will get very interesting now as the expected seeded opponent Pegula lost to Schneider for the first time and the world #1 Aryna Sabalenka was upset as well. 

There would still be the challenge of Svitolina most likely, but we take it one match at a time and just ravel in the breath of fresh air that was this comeback match. 

A well deserved win. 

Avenging that Roland Garros loss feels pretty damn sweet too.

Jazda!.

4 - Iga Swiatek has become the third player since the format’s introduction in 2009 to reach 4+ WTA-1000 quarter-finals in 5+ consecutive years (2022-2026) after Agnieszka Radwanska (2009-2014) and Simona Halep (2014-2019). Constancy.

61.7 - Iga Swiatek has now the best percentage of WTA-1000 quarter-finals reached (61.7%, 29/47), surpassing Serena Williams (61.2%, 30/49) since the format’s introduction in 2009. Area.

29 - Only Agnieszka Radwanska (35) has made more WTA-1000 quarter-finals than Iga Swiatek (29) before turning 26 years old since the format’s introduction in 2009. 

Iga Swiatek scores another solid win in Toronto

For the second round in a row, No. 7 seed Iga Swiatek conceded just three games to advance at the National Bank Open. The 2023 semifinalist sped past Viktorija Golubic 6-2, 6-1 in 66 minutes to book her place in the fourth round.1d ago

Golubic occupies a rare place in Swiatek's career lore: she's the only player who has ever defeated the Pole in the first round of a Grand Slam. But that was back at Wimbledon 2019, when Swiatek was just 18 years old. The former World No. 1 has not lost to Golubic in three matches since, and conceded just five games to her in their last two encounters.

"For sure it was a good day, and I'm really happy with the way I played," Swiatek said in her on-court interview. "Even though the first game wasn't super smooth, I knew I can start from the beginning, and then it went my way and I could find my rhythm."

Swiatek will next face either No. 10 seed Marta Kostyuk or No. 19 seed Madison Keysas she bids to reach her second quarterfinal in Canada.

Drop shots provide highlights for both: Though Swiatek dropped serve in the first game of the match, once she had broken back immediately the contest was largely one-way traffic. The six-time major champion landed 18 winners to Golubic's five and conceded just 14 points on serve -- including that opening break.

But there were still some spectacular moments from both players to entertain the Toronto crowd. Golubic came up with the first, delivering enthralling variety and finishing with a half-volleyed pickup pass in a 25-stroke first-set exchange to hold for the first time. Swiatek may have been inspired: the 25-year-old has eschewed the drop shot for many years, but she came up with a brilliant one en route to breaking Golubic for 2-0 in the second set.

For the most part, though, Swiatek managed to keep a lid on Golubic's variety and shotmaking abilities.

"I think I played back her slice pretty well, so the change of rhythm didn't bother me that much," she said in her press conference. "I tried to pick the right balls to attack because I was controlling the pace, it was just about the decision making."

wtatennis.com

 Another good win for Iga today, sure Golubic doesn't really have any weapons to hurt Iga but she can be tricky with all the different spins and speeds of the ball. 

I thought Iga handled it superbly, she was patient, in extended rallies and waited for the right shot to finish instead of rushing as she has been of late. 

Something her and her new coach had the chance to work on and it showed. 

That patience is something she's going to need in her next match against Kostyuk who'll definitely force her to rush and take her time away. 

While Kostyuk was impressive in her match against Keys, she definitely wasn't in her first match of this tournement and had quite a few double faults. 

As good a season as Kostyuk has had she's still prone to having these kind of performances, but regardless of which version shows up on Saturday I have a good feeling about it. 

I think Iga might just get the chance for some revenge over Roland Garros this year.

Iga kept her focus all the way though the match as well which was a very encouraging sign. 

Kostyuk will be the true litmus test of this tournament. 

If Iga can get past her, the entire rest of this season might just have some hope for good things to come and that her work really is showing some progress. 

But even if she doesn't as long as I see Iga really fighting and problem solving it'll feel like a win, because at Roland Garros Iga just seemed helpless and give up. 

I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about this one.

Jazda Iga!

Iga Swiatek starts Toronto return with a win

Playing her first match of the Hard-Court Swing, Iga Swiatek raced out to a 6-0, 3-0 lead over Sara Bejlek in just 45 minutes -- but had to battle for nearly another hour to finish off the valiant Czech 6-0, 6-3 in 1 hour and 34 minutes.

"For sure it was a good match, and a good start of the hard-court season," Swiatek told reporters afterward. "I'm happy with the level. The first set I was playing with a lot of confidence and very straightforward, so for sure a good one. Then, in second, parts of that were kind of the same as first. But there were for sure a few tricky games, especially the long one. I haven't played a game like that in some time, so I'm happy that I won it and I was solid at the end, so for sure a good match."

The pair had already met in the second round of Roland Garros this year -- and though Swiatek won that encounter 6-2, 6-3, she noted afterwards that Bejlek's speed and variety had made it a "tricky match." It was little surprise that the No. 7 seed came out of the blocks sharp, winning a superb cat-and-mouse exchange on the very first point and then hammering a return winner for an immediate break of the Bejlek serve.

That set the stage for a dominant opening set in which Swiatek fired seven winners, committed only three unforced errors and conceded just 11 points in total. As she advanced to a point to hold for 4-0 in the second set, the possibility of her first 6-0, 6-0 victory since defeating Amanda Anisimova in the 2025 Wimbledon final loomed.

Hot shots and a 13-deuce tussle: Swiatek passed up the 4-0 opportunity by netting a forehand -- and Bejlek, who had been switching up her tactics with drop shots and net play in a bid to get a foothold in the match, seized her opportunity to create some momentum. The World No. 38, who claimed her first WTA title in Abu Dhabi in February, won the best point of the match in the next game, an enthralling 19-stroke exchange in which she did not give Swiatek the same shot twice, and finished with an angled backhand pass.

With Swiatek's lead cut to 3-2, the Polish star had to battle through a marathon 13-deuce game to prevent Bejlek from leveling the score. It featured both spectacular winners and cheap mistakes as both players' form oscillated; Swiatek managed to save nine break points before finally converting her sixth game point as Bejlek sent a forehand long.

"Honestly, I didn't know it was that long," Swiatek said. "When I was playing, I didn't really feel that. But for sure I knew that she missed some opportunities, I missed some opportunities. I really wanted to be solid for just two points in a row to win it, because at the end that's what you need to win a game when it's like deuce/advantage, deuce/advantage, you know. I knew that I can for sure use the opportunities, because two or three of them I just missed, it was my mistake. I knew that I can just come back to being solid, and she helped me a little bit to close it."

Having emerged from that tussle, Swiatek managed to get over the line safely, sealing her third match point when a dead net cord went in her favor. However, her tally of 24 unforced errors in the second set is a statistic she'll aim to improve on when she faces Viktorija Golubic, who upset No. 31 seed Donna Vekic 5-7, 6-2, 6-3, in the third round.

wtatennis.com

First set felt like vintage Iga. 2nd set things got a bit complicated in the 6th game. But the fact that Iga won a crazy 21 minute game saving 9 break points felt encouraging. 

Sure some might say that it was a lack of focus, the forehand completely going off and rushing once her opponent picked up her level. 

But I'm choosing to look at the positives, because for 9 games Iga was flawless. 

And I just missed her on tour so damn much.

Winning that game might give her some belief that she can still really hang in there even when things start to go awry as long as she stays calm and problem solves. 

The first 9 games remined me how she still truly is one of the best returners on tour. 

And when everything is clicking, forehand, serve etc she still is just an absolute treat to watch. 

I'm genuinely looking forward to watching her more this week. 

Welcome back Iga.

40 - Iga Swiatek hs claimed her 40th set with 6-0 score line in Tier1/WTA-1000 events, only Martina Hingis (52) and Serena Williams (50) would have more since the format's introduction in 1990. Fire.

 
2 - Since the WTA-1000 format’s introduction in 2009, only Serena Williams (80.4%) holds a better career winning percentage than Iga Swiatek (79.8%, 139-35) in such events. Marching.

WTA to Require Genetic Sex Testing for All Players

Big news to break here on Bounces today, at the messy intersection of women’s sports and gender issues.

Bounces can report that the Women’s Tennis Association has enacted a policy requiring that all WTA players must undergo genetic sex testing in order to maintain their eligibility to compete on the WTA Tour.

While there are zero known transgender women currently active at any level of professional women’s tennis—and there haven’t been any for nearly half a century—the phantom threat of trans women in women’s sports has gained traction in recent years, primarily as a moral panic fomented by Republican lawmakers and pundits seeking a culture-war wedge issue for political benefit.

Now, in a decision that may reflect a political shift in the organization, the WTA Board has decided to heed the movement’s growing traction within sports.

Starting this month, the WTA is taking the unprecedented step of requiring all of its players to undergo genetic testing to weed out any women who may have a specific genetic marker that suggests traces of male biology. This, as far as my research has shown, will make the WTA the first independent professional women’s sports league or tour to mandate such genetic screening for all of its athletes.1

“I acknowledge that if I fail to undergo [genetic sex testing] as requested by the WTA or compete in a WTA Tournament in which I, to my knowledge, am ineligible to compete under this Eligibility Policy, the WTA may take disciplinary action against me…I further acknowledge and agree that such action may result in (among other things) a specified period of ineligibility to participate in WTA Tournaments, which may lead to the reason for my ineligibility becoming public knowledge or being the subject of public speculation.” —Fragment of new document which must be signed by all WTA players.

benrothenberg.com

What absolute BS. Hey WTA you want to protect women sports and women themselves?. 

How about instead of policing women's bodies you spend your money and resources on weeding out the abusive coaches and players on both tours who are allowed to play and be around women. 

How about implementing a better system for dealing with online harassment and death threats they face on a daily basis when they lose. 

How about promoting them and paying them the same amount of money as the men. 

Because this?. 

Just another smoke screen trying to take away from the actual real issues that women in sports face today. 

Absolute nonsense.

Iga Swiatek puts up a valiant effort but falls short of Wimbledon defense

 

First set turned out to be key to the whole match (as it usually is). 

Iga will definitely have some regrets not being able to keep the minibreak and having a set point in the tiebreaker. 

Once she lost the first set the match went pretty quickly with Eala breaking straight away. 

I did see some improvement with Iga fighting in the 2nd set and getting the break back even having chances to get back on serve. But it was a bit too little too late.

Iga getting the fist set back into a tiebreak after getting broken and Eala serving for it was encouraging as well. 

The whole set had plenty of quality points and rallies (amongst the errors) Iga's game is still definitely there but the confidence and conviction in her shots is not. 

I suppose it's hard to be that way when you've mostly suffered losses for the entirety of this first half of the season. 

Despite another straight sets loss, the first set did give me hope that champion Iga is still in there she just has to believe in herself again. 

Lot's of theories and opinions on what Iga should do next as usual. 

But once again only Iga knows the answer so there's really no point speculating.

I had fairly low expectation going into this given how her season has gone. I'm still a little sad and disappointed but not at the usual level. 

Because I know Iga is struggling, and she's trying hard to find herself again. 

I won't say it hasn't been tough to watch her as a fan going through these struggles because it really has (sometimes  I just want to give her a  big hug and say it'll all be ok) 

I also realize it's entirely possible that finding her game again may take the rest of this year. 

Above all I just want Iga to find some joy in tennis again. If she can find even half the level she had, it'll help her win matches and get that confidence back. 

I hope she has a nice break before returning on the hard court swing, 

I know she'll probably spend part of that time looking for a second coach (as she said she would after Wimbledon). I wish her all the best with that. 

Hopefully whoever she decides on will help her.

I do wish for the media and her fans to be more kind to her, she's already her own worst critic and puts enough pressure on herself as it is. 

Everyone needs to remind themselves that Iga is human and a little support instead of constant ridicule might go a long way.

I'm really proud of Iga for making it through the first round and trying her best in subsequent matches despite the low confidence, win rate and all that. 

She still is and always will be a Wimbledon and 6 time Grand Slam Champion. 

Whatever else no one can take that away.

At only 25 she has plenty of time to improve and figure things out. When she does it'll all click for her again.

Till than we wait and we believe.

Jazda!

Iga Swiatek back into Wimbledon 3rd round

Only the mediocre are always at their best. So said (as of course we all know) Jean Giraudoux, 20th century French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. And six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek is anything but mediocre, as we all also know.

But it can safely be said that the Pole has not been at her absolute best in the opening two rounds of her title defence, despite the assured-looking scoreline of her 6-1, 6-3 second-round victory over 2021 runner-up here Karolina Pliskova.

All the same, it was an improvement on the difficulties of her opener against Taylor Townsend on Tuesday – no sets conceded and especially no juddering tears of relief this time from Swiatek. It helped that the pre-match danger threatened by Pliskova’s career-long grass-court smarts materialised only fleetingly.

If what matters the most is moving forward from each match carrying only the positives with you, then victory will do very well for Swiatek here.

There can’t be too much wrong with holding break points in every Pliskova service game. Yet the Pole still stacked up 18 unforced errors in this match, at times in unseemly clumps. Any repeat in upcoming rounds could create disaster as the quality of opposition ticks upward.

But it was a smiling – not crying – Swiatek who addressed the Centre Court crowd after her victory.

“I’m feeling more stable today, and that’s good,” she said. “The first round was really emotional but today felt like another day in the office. I needed to be ready, be sharp and make good decisions.

“It’s always better when you’re able to think like that. I was consistent and had a good level of focus. I just believed I could be the most solid player on court. I try to be the best player I can be.”

On learning Martina Navratilova graded her performance A-plus in commentary, Swiatek appeared startled, perhaps with that unforced error count in mind.

“I don’t know,” she said. “More like B, I would say.”

wimbledon.com

A much better match. 

Iga looked more self assured on her shots and definitely more relaxed. First match defending champion jitters were definitely the culprit. 

Pliskova's lack of movement allowed Iga to play more of her game too.

It only gets tougher from here though.

Next round will be the real test given how well Eala is playing. 

But if Iga prepares well tactically I think she might do alight. 

Could be a  close one. 

Jazda!

Iga Swiatek this decade: 26 Slam appearances 26 times in the third round

26 - Iga Swiatek is the third player in the Open Era to reach the Round of 32 for 26+ consecutive Women’s Singles Grand Slam events after Martina Navratilova (35) and Conchita Martinez (30). Rule.