Iga Swiatek will take on Jasmine Paolini in the final of the Cincinnati Open on Monday.
The Wimbledon champion continued her strong summer by defeating Elena Rybakina 7-5, 6-3 to reach the championship match of the WTA 1000 event for the first time.
Rybakina defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the previous round and held a 5-3 lead in the opening set, but Swiatek responded with a run of four games in a row and held on to an early advantage in the second.
“For sure it was a great match,” said Swiatek, who qualified for the WTA Finals with the victory and will retake the No. 2 ranking from Coco Gauff if she wins the final. “We played such a high intensity from the beginning. I was just going for it. I knew that I can’t really take the foot off the gas, I need to really be proactive.
“Even though Elena broke me in the first set, I was trying to come up with some ideas just to return some of her serves, because she was serving amazing. I’m happy that I used my chances and I was there when she started missing a bit. Also happy with the level of the second set because I was pretty consistent.”
Paolini set up a rematch of last year’s French Open final by battling to a 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3 win against Russian Veronika Kudermetova.
Paolini served for the match in the second set only to see her advantage slip away, but she eventually completed the job, with Kudermetova’s tally of 75 unforced errors costing her.
