MADRID, 18 (EUROPA PRESS)
Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek reached the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Cincinnati after beating Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina 7-5, 6-3 on Sunday. She will face Italian Jasmine Paolini for the title, whom she dominated (4-0) head-to-head.
After coming close to three semifinal losses, the former world number one entered the title race for the first time at the Ohio event in the United States. The recent Wimbledon champion, her sixth Grand Slam, who failed to make it past the round of 16 in Canada, regained her momentum in pursuit of her eleventh WTA 1000 title and 24th.
The Pole, who made a strong showing on the London grass, overcame Rybakina from 3-5 down in the first set. Swiatek then broke first and weathered the Kazakh's comeback to seal her victory in a fast-track victory, her third final in the last four tournaments, having previously gone over a year without playing one.
The former world number one's new emergence will test Paolini in Monday's final, having defeated Russian Veronika Kudermetova 6-3 6-7(2), 6-3 in her semi-final. The Italian, who has won both WTA 1000 finals she has played so far, served to win the match before the second set tie-break, but the Russian was a machine of unforced errors.
