Iga Swiatek now a win away from returning to No. 2 ranking after reaching Cincinnati final

Iga Swiatek battled past one of her toughest rivals in the semifinals of Cincinnati on Sunday, defeating Elena Rybakina in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, to move into the final of the WTA 1000-level event.

She's now through to the title match in Cincinnati for the first time in her career, her best previous results being two semifinals in 2023 (falling to Coco Gauff) and 2024 (falling to Aryna Sabalenka).

There are now only two active WTA 1000 events left where Swiatek hasn't at least reached the final—Canada, where she's also a former semifinalist, and Wuhan, where she's never played.

If she goes on to win the title in Cincinnati on Monday, there will be an added bonus—the former No. 1 would rise from No. 3 to No. 2 on the WTA rankings, just in time for the US Open seeds, and just in time to secure a Top 2 seed at the last Grand Slam event of the year.

Rybakina has always been a tough match-up for Swiatek, as the Kazakh had won four of their previous nine meetings, including three in a row in 2023. But Swiatek has taken control of their head-to-head recently, winning all three of their previous meetings this year, and she made it four in a row in 2025 on Sunday afternoon.

The first set was anything but straightforward, though—after six straight holds to start the match, Rybakina got the first break for 4-3 and held for a 5-3 lead, and Swiatek was two points away from losing the set serving at 3-5, 15-30 in the next game. But she caught fire from there, winning the next four games in a row—and 15 of the next 19 points—to sneak out the opening frame, 7-5.

After three holds to start the second set, this time it was Swiatek who pounced first, breaking for 3-1 and never looking back for the win.

"For sure that was a tough match," she said afterwards. "At the beginning it was pretty crazy, we played so fast that sometimes we couldn't even run to the second ball because we played so fast. But I was there to play with intensity and quality and I'm super happy with the performance. I served much better, so for sure it helped.

"I wouldn't change anything."

Up next for Swiatek in the final on Monday will be either current No. 9 Jasmine Paolini or former No. 9 (and current No. 36) Veronika Kudermetova, who played the second semifinal of the day.

"Anyone who's in the final is going to be super tough," Swiatek said. "Both of these opponents play totally different tennis, on the other sides of the spectrum in terms of the spin and the pace, so I have to for sure prepare tactically. But I'll just kind of focus on myself and try to continue the work I've been doing because I feel like I've progressed in this tournament, and I just want to continue that, no matter what the result or the stake of the match is."

Swiatek is 23-5 in her career in tour-level finals.