Rybakina Outlasts Gauff, Swiatek Tops Svitolina In Toronto Semifinals

Iga Swiatek downs Elina Svitolina

Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina to meet in Toronto final after gritty semifinal wins.

Swiatek reaches first final of 2026 in Toronto, sets Rybakina Showdown...

Iga Swiatek fought past Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 on Wednesday and will now face world No.2 Elena Rybakina for the Toronto title.

Rybakina, the Australian Open winner, pulled off another comeback to book her spot in Thursday’s final. She beat fourth seed Coco Gauff 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 in the US Open hard-court tune-up.

Swiatek, the former world No.1 and seventh seed, is playing in her first final of 2026. Her last title came in Seoul nearly a year ago.

The win puts her ahead 5-3 in her head-to-head with Svitolina. The Ukrainian had clawed back to make it close this year with two victories over the Pole.

Rain held things up for more than an hour, but when play resumed six-time Grand Slam winner Swiatek flew out of the blocks to go 4-0 up in the first set.

Svitolina didn’t go away though, making Swiatek fight to close it out and even saving two set points in that last game of the opener.

That lifted the Ukrainian, and she stormed through the second set. Swiatek answered in the third, breaking Svitolina to love for a 5-3 lead and then serving it out to seal the match.

“Against Elina it's always tough, so I'm happy that I won this one,” said Swiatek

“Especially that I came back in the third set playing better. So, yeah, that's for sure a big improvement. I'm proud of myself.”

Svitolina lifted the Canadian title back in 2017. She was chasing her third WTA 1000 final of the year after winning in Rome and making the final in Dubai.

She couldn’t sustain it though, as Swiatek lifted her level again in the deciding set.

“Mostly I just wanted to adjust the quality,” Swiatek said. “Because tactics can't do much if you're just not hitting the ball right. I knew I can do it, because I did it in the first set. I'm happy that I was patient enough to do that and didn't get disappointed or didn't give up.”

FIRST FINAL OF 2026 💪@iga_swiatek comes out on top of a three set thriller against Svitolina 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.#NBO26 pic.twitter.com/5fFGDKC92r

— wta (@WTA) August 13, 2026

Rybakina is chasing her third title of 2026 after Melbourne and Stuttgart. She also came back from a set down to beat Naomi Osaka in the quarter-finals in Toronto.

Her run in Canada has her closing the gap on world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the rankings, with the US Open set to start on August 31.

Seizing the moment

Kazakhstan’s Rybakina wrapped up the win over Gauff just before 1 a.m. local time, pouncing after the American started to struggle under pressure on serve.

“She served really well in the first set,” Rybakina said. “It was pretty close the first one, and then I feel like on my serve I rushed a little bit in the end.

“I knew that I need to start straight away the second set well. I'm happy that I did a couple of good returns, and then things turned around.”

Rybakina had to grind out a win against Osaka just to get to the semi-finals, while Gauff moved through after a walkover. Rybakina thinks that extra time on court might have actually worked in her favor.

“I guess the adrenaline and so many hours on the court helped a bit,” she said. “In the third set also, few moments I felt like I was just swinging, and some crazy return at 30-all, and it went my way.

“So, I got my opportunities, I took them.”

Match Data