![\"Elena](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026-08-13T050716Z_1800980280_MT1USATODAY29571734_RTRMADP_3_TENNIS-NATIONAL-BANK-OPEN-1786606452.jpg\")
Elena Rybakina waves to fans after defeating Coco Gauff during their Toronto semifinal [Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images\/Reuters]Rybakina sees off Gauff with another rally<\/p>\nIga Swiatek will face Elena Rybakina for the Toronto tennis title, as Elina Svitolina and Coco Gauff exit in semifinals.<\/p>\n
Published On 13 Aug 202613 Aug 2026<\/p>\n
Iga Swiatek outlasted Ukraine\u2019s Elina Svitolina 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to book a Toronto title showdown with world number two Elena Rybakina.<\/p>\n
Australian Open champion Rybakina delivered another gutsy comeback on Wednesday, beating fourth-seeded Coco Gauff 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 to reach Thursday\u2019s final in the hard court warm-up for the US Open.<\/p>\n
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Former world number one Swiatek, seeded seventh, is in her first final of the year, having last lifted a trophy in Seoul almost a year ago.<\/p>\n
She improved to 5-3 against Svitolina, who had narrowed their head-to-head record with two wins over the Polish star this year.<\/p>\n
In a match delayed more than an hour by rain, six-time major champion Swiatek raced to a 4-0 lead in the opening set.<\/p>\n
The Ukrainian made Swiatek work to serve it out, saving a pair of set points in the final game of the first.<\/p>\n
Energised, she raced through the second set before Swiatek rebounded in the third, breaking Svitolina to love for a 5-3 lead before holding serve to secure the win.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst Elina it\u2019s always tough, so I\u2019m happy that I won this one,\u201d said Swiatek.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially that I came back in the third set playing better. So, yeah, that\u2019s for sure a big improvement. I\u2019m proud of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Svitolina, who won the Canadian crown in 2017, was seeking her third 1000-level final of the season after winning at Rome and finishing runner-up in Dubai.<\/p>\n
But she couldn\u2019t hang on as Swiatek upped her game again in the final set.<\/p>\n
\u201cMostly, I just wanted to adjust the quality,\u201d Swiatek said. \u201cBecause tactics can\u2019t do much if you\u2019re just not hitting the ball right. I knew I can do it, because I did it in the first set. I\u2019m happy that I was patient enough to do that and didn\u2019t get disappointed or didn\u2019t give up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elena Rybakina waves to fans after defeating Coco Gauff during their Toronto semifinal [Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images\/Reuters]Rybakina sees off Gauff with another rally<\/p>\n
Rybakina, who also rallied from a set down to beat Naomi Osaka in the quarterfinals, is on the cusp of her third title of the season after her triumph in Melbourne and a trophy in Stuttgart.<\/p>\n
Her Canadian run has her inching closer to No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the rankings as the August 31 start of the US Open approaches.<\/p>\n
Kazakhstan\u2019s Rybakina polished off the victory over Gauff shortly before 1am local time, taking advantage as the American began to falter in the face of pressure on her serve.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe served really well in the first set,\u201d Rybakina said. \u201cIt was pretty close the first one, and then I feel like on my serve I rushed a little bit in the end.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew that I need to start straight away the second set well. I\u2019m happy that I did a couple of good returns, and then things turned around.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Rybakina had to battle past Osaka to reach the semis, Gauff had advanced via a walkover. But Rybakina said the hard work may have helped her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess the adrenaline and so many hours on the court helped a bit,\u201d she said. \u201cIn 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I got my opportunities, I took them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iga Swiatek will face Elena Rybakina for the Toronto tennis title, as Elina Svitolina and Coco Gauff exit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[17,586,116,11450,3294,25586,48,3297,438],"class_list":["post-166349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-canada","tag-europe","tag-news","tag-poland","tag-sport","tag-tennis","tag-toronto","tag-ukraine","tag-us-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}