Iga Swiatek 'plays powerful' to beat Danielle Collins at Canadian Open, Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff beaten
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Published 12/08/2023 at 08:55 GMT
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek beat Danielle Collins to reach the semi-finals of the Canadian Open in Montreal. Swiatek said she felt that she needed to "go even higher in terms of the intensity" after overcoming Collins to set up a clash with Jessica Pegula, who beat doubles partner Coco Gauff. World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka lost to Liudmila Samsonova and Elena Rybakina beat Daria Kasatkina.
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Iga Swiatek produced a “powerful” performance to beat Danielle Collins and reach the semi-finals of the Canadian Open.
World No. 1 Swiatek won 6-3 4-6 6-2 to record her 50th match win of the season.
Swiatek will next face fourth seed Jessica Pegula, who beat doubles partner Coco Gauff 6-2 5-7 7-5.
Swiatek has now won three of her four career matches against Collins and ensures her stay as world No. 1 will extend to 72 weeks, moving her into 10th place on the all-time list ahead of Caroline Wozniacki.
“I really wanted to play powerful and I’m pretty happy that I managed to even increase the power in the third set,” said Swiatek.
“For sure, I was looking for that. Today I felt like I really needed to go even higher in terms of the intensity.
“I’m really proud of myself that I made it to the semis. I’m happy that I can play another match.”
Qualifier Collins was looking to win her sixth match in seven days but couldn’t match Swiatek in the deciding set.
"I think from an energy perspective that probably had a big effect on the match," said Collins.
"I don't want to take away from Iga's performance. I think the way she was hitting her shots and her precision and what she was doing tactically was great."
Gauff was hurt by nine double faults in her defeat to Pegula.
The key moment came at 5-5 in the third set as Pegula broke and then served out the win.
"It's always tough to play your doubles partner," said Pegula.
"It just came down to the wire and who was going to compete better.
“Watching her play the last couple of weeks I feel like she’s been coming out really, really fast and getting really good leads and being able to play freely.
“So obviously it doesn’t always go to plan, but I wanted to stay as tough as possible at the beginning of the first set. I just didn’t want her to be able to free up and start serving really well and ripping and playing super aggressive.
“So it worked out kind of perfectly today. I can’t say that’s always the case. But yeah, I wanted to be very tough the first few games just keep that pressure on really early.”
Liudmila Samsonova had a day to remember as she beat world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (2) 4-6 6-3 in the day session and then returned to topple Belinda Bencic 6-4 6-4 in the evening.
Samsonova will next face third seed Elena Rybakina after she won an early-morning thriller against Daria Kasatkina.
Rybakina sealed a 5-7 7-5 7-6(8) win at almost 3am in Montreal.
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