Seventh-seeded Iga Swiatek overcame a horrid first set and rallied to defeat tenth-seeded Marta Kostyuk, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 on Saturday to advance to the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open in Toronto.
On Monday, Swiatek will face 15th-seeded Diana Shnaider, who upset third-seeded Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-2.
Swiatek, who lost to Kostyuk at Roland Garros in the spring, produced as poor of a serving set as possible to open the match. She won only 1-of-17 of her serves, was broken in all four service games and retired to the locker room after the 39-minute debacle.
When she returned, the match completely flipped. The Polish star’s serving wasn’t great, but she managed to fend off all six of Kostyuk’s break chances and converted on both of her opportunities to send the match to a decider.
Swiatek broke the Ukrainian at love to start the third set and jumped out to a 5-1 lead. She failed on her first five match point opportunities, saved to breaks, but reached her first National Bank quarterfinal since 2023.
“In the second I came out … playing a bit faster and more heavy, and pushing Marta a little bit more,” said Swiatek. “I knew I can, you know, keep being solid while doing that. So then, like, game by game I felt like it was a good plan and a good choice, and I went for it.”
The win snapped a seven-game winning streak for Kostyuk in three-set matches.
Asked to compare today’s match to her loss to Kostyuk in Paris, Swiatek said, “I’m in a different place for sure. I feel like I could play my game. I couldn’t really do that at the French. So yeah, I knew what to do. I knew how to play. I just continued being focused and in the zone. Til the end I was pretty confident with my game plan and with my strengths. I’m happy how I did that.”
Shnaider defeated Pegula for the first time in five matches and avenged a loss in Washington, D.C., last week.
Trailing 30-15, the Russian broke Pegula in the eighth game of the first set and held serve to get out in front.
Shnaider fell behind again, 3-2, in the second set, but won 19 of the final 25 points of the match to earn the right to face Swiatek.
She has reached the quarterfinal of a Masters 1000 event for the third time in her career.
In the evening matches, top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus takes on Russian No. 16 Ekaterina Alexandrova and eighth-seeded Amanda Anisimova faces ninth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.
–Field Level Media
