Swiatek beats Rybakina to win Canadian Open

Iga Swiatek defeated Elena Rybakina 6-2 6-3 to win the Canadian Open women's title in Toronto on Thursday, securing her first WTA trophy of the season. The straight-sets victory took one hour and 15 minutes and was Swiatek's 26th career title.

Swiatek, 25 and a six-time Grand Slam champion, was cheered by the crowd as she beat world number two Rybakina, the 27-year-old Australian Open champion. Rybakina made 12 unforced errors in the opening set, while Swiatek broke her serve twice and saved two break points during the match. Swiatek reached the quarter-finals in Melbourne in January but lost to eventual champion Rybakina, and she was eliminated in the fourth round at the French Open and the third round at Wimbledon this year. She added Spaniard Francisco Roig to her coaching team in April.

Rybakina led 2-1 in the second set before Swiatek won five of the final six games to close out the match. In total Rybakina recorded one ace, four double faults, 13 winners and 23 unforced errors. Rybakina was unable to break world number eight Swiatek in the second set.

"It means so, so much to me because the past months were not easy," said Swiatek. "I'm really happy that I kept focusing on growing, changing my game a little bit, improving despite all the opinions that many people have about me every day on the internet," said Swiatek. "It's not easy to deal with all of that." "I tried my best but it wasn't enough," said Rybakina, whose previous three matches went to three sets.

Great Britain's Katie Boulter earned her first career win at the Cincinnati Open by defeating American Katie Volynets 7-5 0-6 6-4 in the first round. The 30-year-old's first victory since June sets up a second-round meeting with Wimbledon champion and sixth seed Linda Noskova.

In the men's final, fifth seed Ben Shelton beat fellow American Brandon Nakashima 6-3 7-6 (7-4) to secure back-to-back Canadian Open titles. The all-American final was the first at ATP Masters 1,000 level since Andy Roddick beat Mardy Fish in Cincinnati in 2003, and Shelton became the first Canadian Open winner since Novak Djokovic in 2016 to win the tournament without dropping a set and the first player since Rafael Nadal in 2019 to successfully defend the title. The 23-year-old arrived in Montreal following a disappointing run — a first-round exit at Wimbledon, a second-round defeat at Roland Garros and just one win across his first four Masters 1,000 events — and said: "To play the way that I've played this week, to go through this draw without dropping a set, I think it speaks a lot to the work that I've been putting in, but it speaks a lot to my mental toughness."

Swiatek will return to the top five in the rankings following her first Canadian final victory and will be looking to claim her first Grand Slam title since her dominant win in the Wimbledon final last year when the US Open starts later this month.