Iga Swiatek hasn’t had the season she’s accustomed to, but the No 7 seed overwhelmed No 15 seed Diana Shnaider in Toronto on Monday in their Toronto quarterfinal, dropping just three games in a 6-2, 6-1 rout that lasted 64 minutes.
"I've been feeling good on the court. I know how much I practiced and what we did [during] the practices," Swiatek said in her on-court interview. "This is giving me confidence. It's just a matter of being in a good place that day and using it. So I'm trying to do my best every day, keep my routines, be really focused, and for sure, I'm really happy to be in a semifinal."
She broke in the opening game, dominated on serve and broke again for 5-2 as Shnaider unraveled under a string of forehand errors, the last of which handed Swiatek the opening set.
The second set saw more of the same. Shnaider produced flashes, but Swiatek broke for 2-1 and never looked back. She won the final six games and crossed the finish line a few minutes past the one-hour mark.
In the semis, Swiatek will face No 9 seed Elina Svitolina, who rallied from a set down to defeat No 16 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 in 1 hour and 33 minutes in Monday's second quarterfinal.
She has won four of seven career meetings against Svitolina, though the Ukrainian claimed both of their match-ups this season - in Indian Wells and Rome - in three sets.