TORONTO -- Iga Swiatek had every reason to be confident entering Thursday’s title match at the National Bank Open. Armed with a 25-5 career record in WTA Tour final appearances, the seventh seed from Poland plays best when the stakes are high. She set the early tone against Elena Rybakina and didn’t look back in a clinical 6-2, 6-3 victory on a brilliant summer evening at Sobeys Stadium. “I was really in the zone” Swiatek said. “I wanted to make the match physical.” Swiatek broke Rybakina’s serve to open the first set when the Kazakh made back-to-back double faults. The six-time Grand Slam champion had Rybakina moving around the baseline while trying to keep the six-footer’s powerful forehand at bay. Swiatek used her net skills when needed, and her defensive game was on point. Rybakina was on her heels for most of the match and never really found a rhythm. Swiatek earned another break at 2-2 in the second set before closing out the win in a tidy 75 minutes. “She takes the opportunity during the rally and turns it around,” Rybakina said. It was Swiatek’s first tournament crown since her victory in Seoul last September. She’s the only player to win a WTA 1000 title in each of the last six seasons. Swiatek was projected to rise two spots to No. 6 in the latest world rankings. Rybakina, the second seed, will remain at No. 2. “I’m speechless a little bit because the journey has been bumpy this season,” Swiatek said. “To be here and to hold the trophy and to win against the best players means a lot.” Swiatek’s 26th career WTA Tour title gave her a US$1.09-million cut of the $7.43-million overall purse. Rybakina pocketed about $565,000. With the near-capacity crowd regularly chanting her first name, Swiatek made only a handful of unforced errors. She also caught a few breaks along the way. In her first service game, Swiatek stretched to return a shot and gifted Rybakina a floater that sat up after clearing the net. The Kazakh lined up a two-handed backhand, but sailed it long to give Swiatek the hold. Rybakina has intimidating groundstrokes that can be lethal when in form. She was slightly wide on a few shots at inopportune times, and it prevented her from creating any real momentum. Rybakina was long on a return to give up another break at 2-4, and Swiatek served out the set at love, punctuating the effort with an ace on set point. It was more of the same in the second as Swiatek’s consistency won the day. She had a break-point opportunity at 2-2, clipped the tape with a forehand, and Rybakina’s return found the net. Rybakina, who leads the WTA Tour in aces this season (338) and had a tournament-high (49) over the fortnight, managed just one in the final. Her career head-to-head record dropped to 6-7 against Swiatek. “I wasn’t playing aggressive enough and wasn’t playing with (enough) energy,” Rybakina said. “We all know she’s a fighter and she can run left and right much longer than me.” The victory left Swiatek with some mixed emotions. She was thrilled to finally become a champion again, but during her on-court interview, sounded off on the “tennis experts” back home “judging and hating.” “It’s good to focus on how to create space for you to just focus on yourself,” Swiatek said. “It’s not so easy to do that. But the best thing about this two weeks for me is I could just let it go.” Swiatek is the first Polish winner of this tournament since Agnieszka Radwanska in 2014. Earlier in the day, top-seeded Katerina Siniakova of Czechia and China’s Shuai Zhang defeated Italy’s Sara Errani and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States 6-3, 6-4 in the women’s doubles final. Siniakova and Zhang split $379,080 as champions. The third-seeded Errani and Melichar-Martinez claimed $200,690. Organizers reported a record WTA Toronto overall attendance of 215,872. It was the first time the women’s tour has been in the city since it expanded to a 12-day, 96-player draw after the 2024 season. Canada’s Victoria Mboko won the NBO women’s event last year in Montreal. She was unable to defend her title due to a knee injury. By Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 13, 2026.
