Swiatek completes career sweep of North American swing with dominant win over Rybakina in Toronto

Pole Iga Swiatek, the No. 7 seed, beat Kazakh second seed Elena Rybakina 6-2, 6-3 to win the National Bank Open presented by Rogers on Thursday night in Toronto, her first title of a difficult 2026 season and her 12th WTA 1000 crown at just 25.

Swiatek broke immediately to open the match, held throughout the first set and broke again late to close it out 6-2, never facing a break point of her own until midway through the second. Rybakina steadied to lead 2-1 in the second set, but Swiatek won five of the last six games, breaking at 3-2 before serving out the match, saving off one match point Rybakina fought back to force before finally converting.

Swiatek’s pure dominance

The numbers reflected how comfortable the margin was in the end: Swiatek won 100 percent of her own service games and broke Rybakina four times from five chances, finishing with 72 percent of points won on serve to Rybakina’s 55 percent. Rybakina, usually one of the tour’s most reliable servers, struck just one ace to Swiatek’s none but committed four double faults to Swiatek’s one and won only 41 percent of her second-serve points.

The win also completed a career sweep of North America’s biggest hard-court tournaments, adding the Canadian Open to titles already won at Indian Wells in 2022 and 2024, Miami in 2022, the US Open in 2022 and Cincinnati in 2025, making her, by that same tally, the youngest woman to complete the set.

Swiatek’s route to the final showed no mercy for anyone in her way. She beat Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, the No. 9 seed, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, but otherwise cut through the draw in straight sets, dispatching Russian Diana Shnaider, the No. 15 seed, 6-2, 6-1, Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, the No. 10 seed, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, Swiss Viktorija Golubic 6-2, 6-1 and Czech Sara Bejlek 6-0, 6-3.

Seven seasons with a big title

Rybakina’s road to the final told a different story entirely, one written in three-set survival. Four of her five matches went the distance, an unrelenting stretch that left little time to recover between rounds: American Coco Gauff, the No. 4 seed, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2; Japan’s Naomi Osaka, the No. 11 seed, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4; Russian Liudmila Samsonova 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; and Australian Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, sandwiched around a more routine 6-2, 7-5 win over No. 28 seed Ann Li of the United States. By the time she walked out for the final, the freshness that had carried her through those battles was finally gone, and it showed.

The title extends a run in which Swiatek has now won a significant trophy in each of the last seven seasons, and it is her 26th career title overall and her 56th win over a top-10 opponent, coming after a season in which she had not previously reached a single final before Toronto.