Swiatek Swats Away Pesky Collins, Pegula Ends Gauff’s Run In Montreal QFs; Rybakina Wins Epic

Danielle Collins gave Iga Swiatek all she could handle but for the second straight night the world No. 1 came away with a win as the Polish star prevailed 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to reach the Canadian Open Montreal semifinals.

“I really wanted to play powerful and I’m pretty happy that I managed to even increase the power in the third set,” Swiatek said to the crowd. “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.”

Friday night, Swiatek would jump out ahead of Collins early getting the better of the qualifier. But Collins got into her high-speed high-energy, aggressive style and it began to hit their mark as the American forced a third set.

Swiatek’s shot making was too good as the she broke for 2-1 in the third and that was all she would need to win her 8th straight match.

“I think it’s pretty tricky when you’re playing against the No. 1 player in the world,” Collins said. “She’s very precise with her shots. She runs down a lot of balls. There were a couple of points here and there in some of those sets that I lost and ultimately it determined the outcome of those sets.”

Swiatek’s win sets up a good semifinal showdown with American No. 1 Jessica Pegula.

Earlier, Pegula outlasted her doubles partner Coco Gauff in a tight one 6-2, 5-7, 7-5.

Pegula rolled early on but Gauff began to play much better in the second. Gauff would grab the first lead only to get broken, but serving to stay in the second Pegula faltered.

In the third, with Gauff having momentum and having just won Washington, it looked like the teen would come out ahead. Pegula got a break for 4-2 but couldn’t sustain it. She would break Gauff at 5-all as the errors returned and then she served it out against her good friend and doubles partner.

“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,” Pegula said after. “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.”

Gauff suffered her first loss with Brad Gilbert on her team.

“It was a tough match for me today,” she said. “I think I started off a little bit slow, but I was able to turn it around a little bit for the second set. Then in the third I think I could have served a little bit better, been more aggressive in certain moments and less unforced errors. But Jess is not an easy player. If you don’t hit a great shot she’s going to punish you for it. Also, she’s not easy to give you free balls or free points as well.”

Swiatek leads Pegula 5-2 winning their last meeting in the Doha final earlier in the year.

The day began with two postponed matches from Thursday. In a battle of former champions, Belinda Bencic knocked out Petra Kvitova in three sets 6-7(3-7), 6-3, 6-1. Bencic rolled her ankle earlier in the third set. And Liudmila Samsonova shocked Aryna Sabalenka also in three 7-6(7-2), 4-6, 6-3.

Then in the quarters, Samsonova took down Bencic 6-4, 6-4.

“A really long day, I don’t really have the words right now, but I was happy of how I managed my energy today,” Samsonova said on court. “I was feeling great on the court.”

Samsonova will now face Elena Rybakina who outlasted Daria Kasatkina in a late-night thriller 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(8) in a match that ended at 2:55am.

The contest featured 20 breaks of serve. Kasatkina led by a break multiple times in the second set and served for it at 5-4 before the former Wimbledon champion ran off six straight games to take a 3-0 lead in the decider. The Russian would rebound winning the next four but later when asked to served it out at 6-5 she again came up short.

In the breaker, Rybakina led 6-3 before Kasatkina would have her lone match point at 8-7.

Samsonova had to play two matches but Rybakina went nearly 3.5 hours and likely didn’t get to sleep before the sun came up.

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