Swiatek races past Shnaider into Toronto semi-finals

Toronto, August 11 — Iga Swiatek, the former world number one, advanced to the Toronto Masters semi-finals after a swift 64-minute victory over Russian Diana Shnaider with a score of 6-2, 6-1. The six-time Grand Slam champion of Poland will face either Ukraine's Elina Svitolina or Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova in the final on Wednesday.

At the age of 25, Swiatek's last final appearance was at the Korea Open in Seoul almost a year ago, and she has slipped to world number eight in the rankings. During her first serve, Swiatek allowed only three unforced errors, while returning Shnaider's second serves earned her 11 points out of 16. Shnaider, a left-hander, began by missing a backhand, allowing Swiatek to take a 5-2 lead.

She capitalized again when Shnaider mishit a backhand, securing her second set point. Swiatek further solidified her lead in the first set by breaking Shnaeder's serve and finishing it out in 31 minutes. In the second set, Swiatek broke Shnaider's serve for a 2-1 lead, extended it with another break after Shnaider netted a forehand, and cemented her position with another break in the final game when Shnaider hit a long forehand.