Entering Thursday, the last time Iga Swiatek defeated Elena Rybakina was last summer in Cincinnati, where she went on to win her most recent WTA 1000 title.<\/p>\n
Until now.<\/p>\n
Swiatek capped a stellar run in Toronto with a dominant 6-2, 6-3 win over World No. 2 Elena Rybakina in 75 minutes to claim her first title of the season — and the 26th of her career — at the National Bank Open. It also marks her 12 WTA 1000 crown, moving her past Aryna Sabalenka (11) for the second-most since the format debuted in 2009. She now trails only Serena Williams (13).<\/p>\n
The victory also pushes Swiatek ahead 7-6 in their head-to-head on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, snapping a two-match skid against Rybakina.<\/p>\n
“You’re such a great competitor, and it’s always tough to play against you,” Swiatek said during the trophy presentation. “We’ve played many important matches against each other, and I’m sure there are going to be many, many more.”<\/p>\n
This was the second time the two have met in a final, with both matches going Swiatek’s way in straight sets. She is now 26-5 in WTA finals, the best win rate of any player with 20 or more WTA-level finals since the Tier format’s introduction in 1990.<\/p>\n
Swiatek’s confidence restored after latest triumph<\/p>\n
The 2026 season had been a lackluster one by Swiatek’s high standards entering Toronto. She had yet to reach a final, had slipped to No. 8 in the world and was on the fringes of the WTA Finals picture. Above all else, her confidence appeared shaken.<\/p>\n
But those afflictions seemed to evaporate the moment she stepped foot on Canadian soil.<\/p>\n
The six-time Grand Slam champion opened her campaign with a bagel and dropped just six games across her first two matches. After a comeback win over Marta Kostyuk in the Round of 16, Swiatek returned to dominance in a 6-1, 6-2 rout of Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinals. In the semis, Swiatek avenged a pair of three-set losses to Elina Svitolina earlier this season with a three-set victory of her own to reach the championship match.<\/p>\n
By completing the title run with a win over Rybakina, her longtime rival, it appears some of those inner — and outer — demons have been conquered.<\/p>\n
“I want to dedicate this title to everyone who is dealing with unfair judgement and hate,” Swiatek said. “Just keep pushing, keep growing, keep focusing on yourself because you know what’s best for you. And always remember what’s ahead and what might be possible.”<\/p>\n
More to come…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Entering Thursday, the last time Iga Swiatek defeated Elena Rybakina was last summer in Cincinnati, where she went…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1290,48],"class_list":["post-167467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-text","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167467","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=167467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}