World number one Iga Swiatek beat American Danielle Collins in three sets (6-3, 4-6, 6-2) on Friday and qualified for the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 tournament in Montreal, where she will face American Jessica Pegula. The second half will pit Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova, 18th in the world, who beat Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-4, against Kazakh Elena Rybakina. The latter, seeded N.3, won at the end of the night against the Russian Daria Kasatkina (N.10), in three sets, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (10-8 ). She will have to recover quickly to face Samsonova, who knocked down Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (N.2) in the round of 16.
As for Iga Swiatek, whose quarter-final stretched out to nine hours due to two lengthy rain breaks, she looked set for a quick victory on Friday, after earning two breaks to lead 5-1 in the first set. But Collins, the first player from qualifying to reach the quarter-finals of the event since 2019, pulled herself together, winning back-to-back games before the Pole pocketed the first set. Then the American made the break to come back to 2-2, before doing it again and forcing a third set.
From there, Swiatek took matters into their own hands. She broke Collins a second time to lead 5-2 and claimed victory on her third match point with a forehand winner. “I really wanted to put some power, and I’m quite happy to have succeeded in the third set,” commented Swiatek, who won his fourth Grand Slam title at Roland Garros this year.
The Pole will therefore find in the half the American Jessica Pegula, who qualified for the last four for the third consecutive year by winning 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 against her compatriot and doubles partner Coco. Gauff. The latter committed nine double faults, including two on break points in the third set. “It’s always difficult to play against your doubles partner,” said Pegula. “We know each other’s games so well that we know what each is going to do to the other and what their goal is,” Swiatek explained.
