CINCINNATI: A ruthless Iga Swiatek won 10 of the last 13 games to beat Elena Rybakina 7-5, 6-3 on Sunday and reach her first Cincinnati Open final after losing in the penultimate stage of the US Open tune-up event in each of the last two years.

The six-time Grand Slam champion earned title clash against an opponent with nothing to lose after Italy’s Jasmine Paolini managed to “forget” a patch of bad form to claim a 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-3 win over unseeded Russian Veronika Kudermetova.

The 29-year-old, who was a two-time Grand Slam finalist in 2024, will bid for the fourth title of her career when she faces Swiatek, who is set to compete in her 13th final at the 1000 level as she closes in on a return to world number two.

Third seed Swiatek, the reigning Wimbledon champion, had her hands full in the early stages of the 98-minute match but took advantage of a sudden dip in 2022 All England winner Rybakina’s form to win four consecutive games and wrap up the first set before easing through the second.

“That was a tough match. At the beginning the level was pretty crazy, we played so fast that sometimes we couldn’t even run to the second ball because we played so fast,” Swiatek said. “I wanted to be there when Elena starts making mistakes. It’s impossible to play such a good level throughout the whole match.”

Ninth seed Rybakina used a cross-court forehand that caught the line for a break and then held for a 5-3 lead in the first set but a laser-focused Swiatek came back from the precipice and attacked the Kazakh’s serve to draw level at 5-5.

From there, Swiatek held serve before wrapping up the opener when she broke for a second time after a Rybakina backhand attempt came up well short.

Rybakina, who enjoyed a swift victory over world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the previous round, was broken for a third time early in the second set after a backhand error put Swiatek ahead 3-1.

Swiatek faced some push-back from Rybakina three games later but dug deep to recover from 15-40 down to protect her serve and reach 5-2 before wrapping it up on serve when Rybakina sent a forehand return long.

“I was there to play with intensity and good quality and I am super happy with the performance,” Swiatek said. “I served much better so for sure it helped and I wouldn’t change anything.”

Swiatek, who has not lost a set in Cincinnati, will enter the final looking to improve her head-to-head record against Paolini to 6-0 in their first match since the Bad Homburg Open semi-final in June.

But Swiatek said she was prepared for a tough final against a player who beat world number two Coco Gauff in the quarter-finals.

“Anyone who is there will have been playing well,” she said.

Before her 6-0, 6-0 Wimbledon final win over Amanda Anisimova last month, Swiatek had been in a trophy drought with her last prior title coming in June 2024 at Roland Garros.

Another victory on Monday would be a strong springboard into the US Open, where first-round play starts on August 24.

Paolini made a strong start and looked headed to a straight-set victory but failed to serve out her match at 5-4 in the second set and admitted the lapse left her nervous.

Russian Kudermetova forced a decider in which the Italian seventh seed went on to close it out with a love hold.

“I said to myself after losing the tiebreak that I have to step back on court, be in the present and don’t think about what happened,” said Paolini. “I did my best and it did not work in the second set but you have to keep going. And that was the key, to forget and go back and fight and stay in the present.”

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2025