Swiatek beats Rybakina for first title of season

Iga Swiatek clinched her inaugural WTA title of the season by defeating Elena Rybakina in the final of the Canadian Open on Thursday. The six-time Grand Slam champion triumphed 6-2, 6-3, displaying a dominant performance against the world number two. Swiatek, 25, broke Rybakina's serve twice and saved two break points during the match.

In the second set, Rybakina, 27, was unable to break Swiatek, and the Polish player secured her 26th career title in just over an hour. "It means so, so much to me because the past months were not easy," Swiatek remarked, emphasizing the challenging nature of her recent campaign. She aims to reclaim her top five ranking following her first Canadian final victory.

Prior to this, Swiatek reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open but was defeated by Rybakina in the French Open and Wimbledon. In April, she added Francisco Roig to her coaching team, who had previously worked with Rafael Nadal and Emma Raducanu. Swiatek acknowledged the challenges of dealing with external criticism while striving for her best form.

"I’m really happy that I kept focusing on growing, changing my game a little bit, improving despite all the opinions that many people have about me every day on the internet," she stated. Rybakina led 2-1 in the second set before Swiatek won the final six games to claim victory. The runner-up had one ace and four double faults, hitting only 13 winners and committing 23 unforced errors.

Rybakina expressed her disappointment, saying, "I tried my best but it wasn’t enough." Meanwhile, Great Britain's Katie Boulter secured her first career win at the Cincinnati Open, defeating Katie Volynets 7-5, 0-6, 6-4. Boulter will now face Wimbledon champion and sixth seed Linda Noskova in the second round.