Toronto (Canada) (AFP) – Former world number one Iga Swiatek cruised into the Toronto Masters semi-finals on Monday, taking just 64 minutes to sweep past Russian Diana Shnaider 6-2, 6-1. Poland’s Swiatek, a six-time Grand Slam champion, reached just her second WTA semi-final this year after Rome and seeks her first final since winning the Korea Open almost a year ago in Seoul.
“From the beginning I went for it. I felt like I could dominate,” Swiatek said. “I was quite happy with the way I played.” The 25-year-old world number eight from Warsaw will on Wednesday face Ukraine’s ninth-ranked Elina Svitolina, who rallied past 19th-ranked Ekaterina Alexandrova 3-6, 6-0, 6-3. Svitolina won eight consecutive games in the second and third sets to dispatch her Russian rival in 93 minutes.
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Swiatek leads Svitolina 4-3 in their WTA career rivalry but lost both their meetings this year. “It was a tricky match with the wind,” Swiatek said. “It was the first chance I had to play in the wind since I got here. I thought I needed to adjust to that. I just wanted to be more solid.” Swiatek dropped only three points on her first serve and took 11 of 16 points returning Shnaider’s second serves.
Shnaider, a left-hander, swatted a backhand over the baseline to surrender a break in the opening game. Swiatek took a 5-2 lead, breaking again when Shnaider netted a backhand, and served out to take the first set in 31 minutes. Swiatek broke for a 2-1 lead in the second when Shnaider netted a forehand. She smashed a forehand winner to break for a 4-1 edge and broke again in the last game when Shnaider sent a forehand long.
Svitolina sent a backhand long to drop serve to love in the final game of the first set, Alexandrova taking it after 29 minutes with 12 winners to only three by Svitolina. In the second set, Alexandrova sent a forehand long and netted two backhands to hand Svitolina three breaks. Svitolina served for the match in the eighth game of the final set but double faulted away a break only to break back to love in the last game, smashing a service return winner to end it.
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