Third time's the charm! Swiatek reaches Cincinnati final for first time

Iga Swiatek reached the final of the Cincinnati Open for the first time in her career with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Elena Rybakina on Sunday at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

Cincinnati: Draws | Scores | Order of play

Having lost in the semifinals in the Queen City in each of the last two years, No. 3 seed Swiatek looked as though she might be bundled out at the penultimate hurdle again when ninth seed Rybakina took a 5-3 lead in the first set. But from there, the Wimbledon champion won 10 of the last 13 games to take her fourth straight win against Rybakina and her sixth win against the Kazakh in 10 tour-level meetings.

Wimbledon champion Swiatek has now reached the final in three of her last four tournaments played, after not reaching one in more than a year. She will face No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini in Monday's final as she seeks an 11th career WTA 1000 title.

"Oh my God, for sure that was a tough match," Swiatek said post-match. "At the beginning, the level was pretty crazy; sometimes, we couldn't even run to the second ball ... but I was there to play with intensity, good quality, and I'm happy with the performance."

Just as she did against Rybakina at Roland Garros this year, where she rallied from a set and a break deficit in a fourth-round win, Swiatek took a while to get to full flight on P&G Center Court. After the match began with six straight holds of serve, Rybakina moved into the ascendency by winning three straight games to establish a two-game cushion. 

She also had a 15-30 opening on Swiatek's serve in the next game, but never reached set point. Serving for the set, Rybakina was broken to 30. 

"I just wanted to be there in term when Elena starts making mistakes, because I think it's impossible to play such a good level throughout the whole match," Swiatek said. "I'm happy that I was there and I wasn't frustrated when she was acing and playing so perfectly from the beginning. I'm just happy I was solid and also intense and could get back [shots] when she played great and play my game anyway."

Swiatek will take a 5-0 record into the final with Paolini. She has only lost one set across those matches.

"Jasmine, she also plays fast, but with a lot of spin, and she has a lot of variety in terms of going to the net as well," Swiatek said. "I think I'm gonna have to prepare tactically, but honestly, I'm just gonna kind of focus on myself."