TORONTO — Iga Swiatek raised her game at the right time Wednesday night to secure her first appearance in a WTA Tour final in almost a year.
The six-time Grand Slam champion from Poland broke Elina Svitolina's serve at love for a 5-3 lead in the deciding set. She then jumped out to a 40-0 lead before converting her second match point.
Swiatek, the No. 7 seed, needed two hours and 17 minutes to complete the 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 victory at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers. The start of the match was delayed about an hour due to wet weather.
The former world No. 1 will play the winner of the late semifinal between fourth-seeded American Coco Gauff and second-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
The final was scheduled for Thursday night.
The ninth-seeded Svitolina struggled at the start of the match, dropping the first four games and looking exasperated as the errors continued. Swiatek was working her from corner to corner and using strong net play to her advantage.
Things flipped in the second set as the Ukrainian finally won some service breaks. Her range and power from the baseline helped provide some needed momentum as Swiatek searched for answers.
The players seemed destined for a third-set tiebreaker as they went back and forth with powerful ground strokes. Svitolina blinked first in the decider as she double-faulted on triple-break point and Swiatek took advantage.
Swiatek, who has won five of their eight career meetings, will appear in her first WTA 1000 final since winning at Cincinnati last summer.
Her last WTA Tour final was in Seoul last September, when she picked up her 25th career WTA title.
All four semifinalists this year are ranked in the top 10.
The last time that happened at the National Bank Open was in 2000 when top-ranked Martina Hingis beat seventh-ranked Serena Williams for the crown. The other semifinalists that year were sixth-ranked Conchita Martinez and ninth-ranked Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario.
Canada's Victoria Mboko won this tournament last year in Montreal. She was unable to defend her title due to a knee injury.
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