Iga Swiatek was asked to identify the key to her impressive form at the 2026 Canadian Open after she reached the semi-finals at the WTA 1000 event.

The six-time Grand Slam champion, who is currently ranked eighth, dismantled world No 17 Diana Shnaider 6-2, 6-1 in the quarter-finals in Toronto on Monday evening.

The 25-year-old Pole also defeated Marta Kostyuk, Viktorija Golubic and Sara Bejlek in Canada en route to reaching just her second semi-final of the 2026 season. Swiatek will face world No 9 Elina Svitolina in the last four.

The former world No 1 arrived in Toronto after a difficult spell, having fallen in the third round at Wimbledon, her opening match in Bad Homburg and the fourth round at Roland Garros at her previous three events.

Here is everything Swiatek said in her press conference after her dominant win against Shnaider.

Q. Iga, just talk us through the match and what things went well today.

SWIATEK: Well, I think I adjusted well to the conditions. It got quite windy. Probably the most wind I had on my match during the whole tournament, so it wasn’t easy. I adjusted also to the lefty spin well. I tried to open the court pretty good.

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Q. Watching you this week it seems like you’ve been playing with a different type of patient, yet aggressive tennis. You’ve been playing with more poise. What do you think has been the key to you, or what’s clicked for you in Toronto to be able to play this sort of tennis?

SWIATEK: Well, that was the goal from the beginning when I started working with Francis [Roig], but for sure, you know, this period of Grand Slams in summer and different tournaments for me. You know, playing on clay, and with all this fuss around that I usually have there, sometimes it’s not helping. So I didn’t have so much clarity in my head to always keep doing the stuff that he wanted me to do. Here, I feel like it’s already got more into my habit, you know, and it became more natural. That’s definitely how I want to play, to have this patience. I feel like I was playing a little bit too flat and too fast sometimes last year, you know, making, like, risky decisions. This is more my game, so, like, what I’m trying to do now is more my game. Yeah, I feel like the work with Francis that we’re doing for sure helps, and I feel like the most stressful part of the season is over.

Q. I wanted to ask about the point at 3-1 to go up a double break. It was one of the longest rallies of the match. Curious what you saw in that point, why you thought during the match you had success in those longer rallies?

SWIATEK: Well, at this particular point I think I guessed pretty well where she’s going to play, that she’s going to go forehand down the line. I read the point well, that gave me an advantage. But why? Well, I don’t know. I just, for sure I want to fight till the end of every point. There are matches where the opponent is, for example, up attacking so fast that you know it’s going to be winner or unforced error, but you know you’re not going to get there, and you’re not going to play it back. Today I felt like I can do it. Sometimes when I was, like, maybe not so sure, and I could guess. So, sometimes it was luck. Sometimes it was just fighting till the end. And at the end that’s what made my game solid, that I could also get points from defense, so I’m really happy about that.

Q. Can you put a finger on what you’ve unlocked the last two matches, especially since the second set of your last match to now today, what’s worked so well for you?

SWIATEK: There’s not like one particular thing. Especially that both of the opponents that I faced were so much different. But, yeah, but I feel like maybe with Marta [Kostyuk] I was able to just clearly see what I did wrong instead of being so caught up with the mistakes. Today I just followed the plan. I was really focused. I feel like I’m for sure better focused. I’m able to follow the plan a little bit easier because I feel the ball good on my racquet. It’s a nice tournament where there’s not much fuss around, you can really focus on your job. I just have a good time on court.

Q. You mentioned the conditions. How much does that play into how you play, and what have you made of the support you’ve had here? Obviously, you got lots of support, there’s planes buzzing overhead, what do you make of the event in general?

SWIATEK: Well, the planes don’t matter. But for sure it’s windy, I mean, in the evening, so it gets more tricky. I remember when I played here in 2022 it was super windy. So this is what you need to be aware of. Besides that, I feel like there is a bit of difference between day session and night session because of the heat, so also you need to adjust to that. But overall the conditions are great. The court is, I would say, more normal than last year in Montreal because it was super fast there. This is a court where you can, you know, build a point and play some nice rallies. Yeah, the tournament is great. Like, I love it, so, yeah.

Q. After a long clay and grass season that you talked about, how excited were you to be back on the hard courts? And do you think in Toronto that you found a strong form that can be consistent going later on in this stretch?

SWIATEK: I would love to predict the future, you know. For sure, you know, the more matches I play, the more confidence I can get. So that would help, but you never know. The tour is long and intense. So I’m really trying to stay focused on me on one match at a time. What was the first part?

Q. How excited are you to be back on hard courts?

SWIATEK: Oh yeah, really excited because I also never played on hard courts with Francis, so wanted to see how it’s going to look like. I feel good on hard courts. I feel like I won many tournaments on hard courts. It’s not like clay, you know, it’s so high in the ranking that everything else falls really down. I really like playing on hard courts and, yeah, I was excited.

Q. I remember after Wimbledon you spoke about how I believe you felt you weren’t playing at a high enough level to have high expectations. Do you feel like you’re at that point of having those higher expectations again with you and your game?

SWIATEK: With what?

Q. With you and your results and your game as well.

SWIATEK: Now?

Q. Yeah.

SWIATEK: Nothing changes. Like, it’s just a semi-final of a tournament. Is that what you mean?

Q. Yeah, like I feel like around Wimbledon you might have talked about how…

SWIATEK: Well, playing as a defending champion is just different. So for sure it’s not easy experience, especially on Wimbledon. So that’s probably what I meant. But now, no, like, it all stays the same. Like, I’m really trying to focus on the next match. The girls are playing great, you know. And the girls I might play next I lost to this season. So I can keep the expectations for sure low, just focus on myself, try to change some stuff that I did wrong on last matches, and fight for it.

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