TORONTO \u2014 After winning just one game on serve in the first set, Iga \u015awi\u0105tek rallied to defeat Marta Kostyuk 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 to advance to the Canadian Open quarterfinals Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
This marks the six-time Slam champion\u2019s fourth quarterfinal appearance at a WTA 1000 in 2026, as she continues to search for her first title of the year.<\/p>\n
Both players were tight out of the gate. It was their first meeting since the French Open round of 16, when Kostyuk beat \u015awi\u0105tek in straight sets 7-5, 6-1. The opening set featured a pile of unforced errors and breaks of serve, and the first four games were breaks. The entire set featured a combined seven service breaks, with \u015awi\u0105tek unable to hold.<\/p>\n
\u015awi\u0105tek\u2019s lone point on serve in the first set came in her opening service game, when Kostyuk sailed a forehand long. Otherwise, Kostyuk dominated on the return with powerful groundstrokes. \u015awi\u0105tek couldn\u2019t respond to Kostyuk\u2019s pace, resulting in a lack of control in her shots. The errors consisted of shots long, wide or in the net. Serving down 3-4, \u015awi\u0105tek double-faulted, paving the way for Kostyuk\u2019s fourth break and ultimately the first set. \u015awi\u0105tek was 1-for-11 in first-serve points won and 0-for-6 in second-serve points.<\/p>\n
After \u015awi\u0105tek left the court to regroup, the match shifted. \u015awi\u0105tek\u2019s first-serve percentage remained the same (64.7 percent), but this time, more landed in (11 in the first compared to 22 in the second). \u015awi\u0105tek struggled to place her serve in the first set, but it was nearly unreturnable in the final two. Up a break 2-0 in the second set, \u015awi\u0105tek hit a body serve that Kostyuk couldn\u2019t handle. The precision \u015awi\u0105tek brought to her shots could not be said for Kostyuk. The mistakes piled up for the Ukrainian, the aggressiveness leading to balls sailing long or wide.<\/p>\n
\u015awi\u0105tek closed out the second set serving 5-1. She staved off three break points before holding serve to win the set. On the second break point, \u015awi\u0105tek displayed her trademark movement, extending the rally at the net and forcing Kostyuk to sail a forehand long. The third break point saw \u015awi\u0105tek wind up and blast a forehand winner down the line.<\/p>\n
Kostyuk couldn\u2019t slow the \u015awi\u0105tek surge\u00a0in the third set. The punishing shots from the first set became unforced errors in the third. \u015awi\u0105tek wasn\u2019t missing, continuing to blast groundstrokes with depth. \u015awi\u0105tek opened the final set by breaking Kostyuk\u2019s serve and didn\u2019t give up the lead.<\/p>\n
Even when Kostyuk threatened with a break point chance down 1-4, \u015awi\u0105tek relied on her serve to get out of trouble. She forced Kostyuk out wide with a kick serve, opening up the court before delivering a blazing down-the-line winner. \u015awi\u0105tek held serve to go up 5-1, en route to winning the match.<\/p>\n
After winning one point on serve in the first set, \u015awi\u0105tek closed out the match with a gutsy service hold. She staved off a Kostyuk break point with a backhand winner down the line. On the sixth match point, \u015awi\u0105tek fired an unreturnable second serve that Kostyuk blasted into the net. \u015awi\u0105tek jumped and fist-pumped to her box in celebration amid \u201cIga, Iga!\u201d chants from the rowdy Polish fans at Sobeys Stadium.<\/p>\n
This was \u015awi\u0105tek\u2019s 24th match win of the year. After winning Wimbledon last year, \u015awi\u0105tek\u2019s best result at a Slam in 2026 was when she reached the quarterfinals in Australia. She\u2019s reached just one semifinal at a WTA 1000 this year, losing to Elina Svitolina at the Italian Open.<\/p>\n
With Saturday\u2019s win, \u015awi\u0105tek is one win away from another WTA 1000 semifinal. She will play Diana Shnaider in the Canadian Open quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
\u015awi\u0105tek showed she can raise her level in clutch moments during her 125-week stint as world No. 1. After opening her Canadian Open campaign with two comfortable victories, she again showed resolve with a gritty performance as she looks to regain her dominant form.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 After winning just one game on serve in the first set, Iga \u015awi\u0105tek rallied to defeat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82,593],"class_list":["post-851031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}