The World No.1 moved into Saturday’s semifinal match against No.3 Jessica Pegula at the Omnium National Bank tournament. Earlier, Pegula was a dramatic 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 winner over doubles partner Coco Gauff.
Over the past two seasons, Swiatek has won 117 matches -- the most Hologic WTA Tour in a two-year span since Angelique Kerber in 2015-16. The last player to win 50-plus matches in back-to-back seasons was Karolina Pliskova (2018-19). Swiatek’s the first player since Serena Williams (2013-2014) to win 117 matches over two years.
By reaching this quarterfinal, Swiatek extended her reign as the No.1-ranked player to 72 weeks, 10th place on the all-time list and one more than Caroline Wozniacki.
“I really wanted to play powerful and I’m pretty happy that I managed to even increase the power in the third set,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview. “For sure, I was looking for that. Today I felt like I really needed to go even higher in terms of the intensity.
“I’m really proud of myself that I made it to the semis. I’m happy that I can play another match.”
Fun fact: No.1 players are undefeated at the Canadian Open in the years in which it has been played in Montréal since 2014 when Serena Williams lost in semifinals against Venus Williams.
Collins, a qualifier, was looking to win her sixth match in seven days. After two qualifying victories, Collins defeated Eugenie Bouchard in the first round, No.8 Maria Sakkari in the second and 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez in the Round of 16.
"I think from an energy perspective that probably had a big effect on the match," Collins said afterward. "I don't want to take away from Iga's performance. I think the way she was hitting her shots and her precision and what she was doing tactically was great."
Swiatek has now won three of four career matches against Collins.
Collins is an accomplished player who won two NCAA singles titles at the University of Virginia. She reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in 2019 and, three years later, the finals. Collins is an aggressive player who likes to play fast and loose.
On this occasion, Swiatek beat her at her own game.
Swatek collected the first break of the match on Collins’ opening service game. Two missed backhands gave Swiatek a 2-0 lead, which soon blossomed to 3-0 -- a love game punctuated by an ace.
Collins broke Swiatek in the eighth game, but Swiatek finished the first set off with an unreturnable serve.
The second set began as the first set did. Swiatek broke Collins’ first serve opportunity and took a 2-0 lead. But the American broke right back and, with Swiatek serving at 4-5, leveled the match. Collins converted her fourth set point when Swiatek’s backhand flew wide.
The first advantage in the third set went to Swiatek. Feasting on second serves, she worked it to break point and a Collins forehand soared wide for a 2-1 lead. Swiatek broke Collins again in the seventh game and served it out, converting her third match point, for the victory.
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