Swiatek fends off Collins charge, advances to National Bank Open semi-finals

Iga Swiatek beat Danielle Collins 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 on Friday night. She’ll play No 4 seed Jessica Pegula in the next round

August 12, 2023

National Bank Open presented by Rogers •Quarter-final • completed

Iga Swiatek is through to the National Bank Open semi-finals after holding off Danielle Collins 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 on Friday night in Montreal. Swiatek needed two hours and 21 minutes to set up a Saturday showdown against Jessica Pegula.

The world No 1 crushed Collins 6-0, 6-1 in their first meeting of the season in Doha, but it was much tougher this time around. Collins took a tight second set, during which she was broken right away and also faced a break point serving at 4-4. The American eventually broke Swiatek at 5-4, converting her fourth set point.

Swiatek restored order in the third, seizing breaks at 1-1 and 4-2.

“I’m happy that in the third set I could even increase the level and just play really powerful and fast,” she assessed.

Casually cool 😎@iga_swiatek defeats Collins 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 advancing to the semifinals for the first time in Montreal! #NBO23 pic.twitter.com/95SkDjXjEv
— wta (@WTA) August 12, 2023

Montreal’s top seed will face No 4 seed Jessica Pegula next.

The 22-year-old from Poland beat Karolina Pliskova (7-6 (6), 6-2) and edged out No 14 seed Karolina Muchova (6-1, 4-6, 6-4) in the previous rounds.

Collins booked her quarter-final spot by defeating Elina Svitolina (6-2, 6-2), No 8 seed Maria Sakkari (6-4, 6-2) and Canadian wild card Leylah Fernandez (6-2, 6-3).

“Overall (I’m) happy with my week,” the American reflected. “My goal last week after losing first round in D.C. was to just get more matches and try to improve each match, and I feel like I certainly did that even though I didn’t have the outcome that I wanted today. I feel like it’s always tough when you have to play the No 1 player in the world. It’s not easy to get past, but overall (there were) a lot of improvements I think this week.”