Early exits, straight-set losses and an uncharacteristic dip in form have largely defined Iga Swiatek’s 2026 season so far. But the Pole may finally be finding her groove again. She stormed into her second semifinal of the season in Toronto with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 win over Diana Shnaider, needing just 64 minutes and winning the final six games in a row. And when former British player Mark Petchey called the performance “Vintage”, the Pole wasn’t exactly rushing to accept the compliment.

“Why vintage? Everybody keeps saying vintage, but what the hell,” she said during an interaction with The Tennis Channel. “It’s been like, what, two or three years? Like, it must be nine years old that people keep calling it vintage, you know. There have been many people coming to me like, ‘vintage Iga’ and I’m like, ‘I’m still 25.'”

A reason why Petchey may have described Swiatek’s performance as vintage is that she has barely won in such dominant fashion this year. The World No. 8 is still searching for her first title of the year and hasn’t reached a final yet. That’s a stark contrast to 2025, when she lifted three singles trophies. This included dominant campaigns at Wimbledon and the Cincinnati Masters.

Nevertheless, after early-season setbacks, the Pole wasn’t simply waiting for things to turn around, as she made some changes of her own. After her second-round exit to fellow Pole Magda Linette at the Miami Open, Swiatek parted ways with coach Wim Fissette. She then headed to the Rafa Nadal Academy to work with her new coach, Francisco Roig, while also getting some valuable training time with none other than Rafael Nadal.

However, she won just three matches on the grass swing, a sharp decline from 2025. In fact, she arrived in Toronto on the back of a disappointing third-round exit at Wimbledon.

While there weren’t a lot of expectations around Swiatek in Toronto, she may as well have rediscovered her form in the tournament. She has dropped just one set on her way to the semifinals and has been quite convincing with her performances. Though hard courts aren’t her preferred surface, Swiatek has still turned the tables around and has started the swing on a positive note.

Swiatek had begun her campaign with a one-sided 6-0, 6-3 victory over Sara Bejlek. She followed this up with another ruthless display against Viktorija Golubic, where she triumphed 6-2, 6-1. But Swiatek would then face a stern challenge in the third round.

She took on the in-form Marta Kostyuk in the next match. Unlike her previous two encounters, Swiatek lost the first set on this occasion. But she would come back stronger in the next set and would barely make any mistakes. The Pole dragged the match to a decider, where she continued to dominate. Kostyuk had no answer to Swiatek’s game, and the latter would eventually win 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

After the dramatic encounter, Swiatek herself admitted that this was one of her “best” matches of the season so far. The straight-set victory over Shnaider further solidified the 25-year-old as one of the top contenders for the Canadian Open title. But the final two matches are certainly not going to be easy for Swiatek. She will be meeting one of her toughest competitors on the Tour in the semifinals.

Iga Swiatek set to lock horns against Elina Svitolina in the semifinals

Swiatek will be hoping to finally solve the Elina Svitolina puzzle as the two meet at the Canadian Open on Thursday. This will be their third meeting of the season, and while Swiatek may have a slender 4-3 lead in the H2H record, she is yet to defeat Svitolina this year.

Swiatek held a 4-1 lead at the start, but Svitolina trimmed it to 4-2 with a win at Indian Wells. But the deficit was cut short after the Ukrainian claimed her second victory of the matchup in the quarterfinals of the Indian Wells Masters.

She defeated Swiatek 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in what was a grueling clash. The two then met in the semifinals of the Rome Masters. Though Swiatek was the favorite coming into the tournament, Svitolina proved to be the better player once again and recorded a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 win. She later won the coveted title by defeating Coco Gauff in the final.

Looking at their recent form, it won’t be wrong to say that Svitolina has the edge over Swiatek as they prepare for the semifinals in Toronto. But the way the Pole has been playing at the National Bank Open, she can very well turn the tables on Svitolina in the upcoming encounter.