By Nicole Fernandes
TORONTO, Aug 13 (Reuters) – Iga Swiatek captured her first title of the season with a swift 6-2 6-3 win against Elena Rybakina in the Canadian Open final on Thursday, giving the Pole a confidence boost heading into the U.S. Open.
It was Swiatek’s first final at the U.S. Open tune-up event, and the six-times Grand Slam champion enjoyed the Toronto crowd chanting “Iga! Iga!” throughout the match on her way to victory, with a few Polish flags in the crowd.
But Swiatek told Canadian network Sportsnet that she felt angry after the win, having faced criticism from media back home amid an inconsistent season that has seen her fail to advance beyond the quater-finals at a Grand Slam and replace her coach.
“I think that’s the first time in my life I have something like that after a victory but it hasn’t been easy you know,” said Swiatek. “I’m happy that I kept my composure, kept my focus, and I keep growing every month no matter what the challenges and I’m super proud I could win this one.”
The Pole was sharp and fast on the hard court in Toronto while Kazakhstan’s Rybakina was her own enemy for much of the evening.
Rybakina, the world number two, was broken twice in an opening set that also saw Swiatek save two break points to take command of the match. The first set was marred by 12 unforced errors for 27-year-old Rybakina, who struggled to strike the ball cleanly.
The Australian Open champion could not weaponize her serve either, with just one ace in the match, and Swiatek broke her again in the second set to take a 3-2 lead.
Swiatek, 25, dropped the next game but closed out the final three with confidence, landing a clean strike on match point to end her title drought.
“If she plays her best game she’s probably better than everyone,” Swiatek told reporters of Rybakina after the match. “You need to use all the opportunities, you can’t let yourself make mistakes or bad decisions.”
Fatigue had finally caught up with Rybakina, who played three hours more than Swiatek at the tournament prior to their meeting on Thursday as her previous three matches went to three sets.
“I was just very tired. You could see that I wasn’t pushing with the legs enough,” Rybakina told reporters after the match. “There was a lot of unforced errors, especially on top of the net. It was just a pure lack of concentration.”
With the Canadian title, world number eight Swiatek will return to the top five in the rankings.
(Reporting by Nicole Fernandes in Toronto; Editing by Sonali Paul and Peter Rutherford)
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