The pre-match situation had suggested that a closer contest was possible. Potapova was seeded 24th in Toronto, while Svitolina was the tournament’s No. 9 seed. The Ukrainian had also needed three sets and two tie-breaks in her previous match against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. Against Potapova, however, she was significantly more consistent from the very beginning.
Svitolina dominates the opening set
It quickly became clear in the first set which direction the match was heading. Svitolina held her service games comfortably and constantly put Potapova under pressure on return. The Austrian struggled particularly badly behind her second serve: throughout the entire opening set, Potapova failed to win a single one of her eight points on second serve.
Svitolina broke her opponent three times and wrapped up the first set 6-1 after just under 26 minutes. Potapova was not completely without opportunities, though. She created four break points but failed to convert any of them. Svitolina, by contrast, won twelve of her 13 points behind her first serve.
Potapova was unable to find a way back into the match in the second set either. Svitolina defended extremely well, repeatedly forced her opponent to play an extra shot and at the same time took the initiative early whenever an opportunity presented itself. Potapova managed to win only one more game.
Ten break chances go unused
The break-point statistics were particularly striking. Potapova created ten break opportunities over the course of the match but failed to convert a single one. Svitolina, meanwhile, took all five of her chances and did not drop serve once throughout the match.
The other numbers were equally clear. Svitolina won 61 points in total, compared to just 36 for Potapova. Their first-serve percentages were still relatively close at 68 and 66 per cent respectively. The decisive difference came after the serve landed: Svitolina won 75 per cent of the points behind her first serve, while Potapova managed only 48 per cent. On second serve, the margin was again clearly in the Ukrainian’s favour, 41 to 20 per cent.
The match ended 6-1, 6-1. For Potapova, it represents another setback on hard courts after a first half of the season in which she had been particularly strong on clay. Her highlights this year include reaching the final in Linz and the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 tournament in Madrid.
No handshake after the match
After the match, Svitolina declined the customary handshake at the net. The background is Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Since the invasion began in 2022, Svitolina has generally refused to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian players. The fact that the Russian-born Potapova obtained Austrian citizenship at the end of 2025 and has represented Austria since this season did not change Svitolina’s stance.
The two players had already met in Monterrey in March 2022. Svitolina also won that match comfortably and afterwards explained the special significance of such matches in an interview: “I’m playing for my country.” At the time, the Ukrainian stressed that she wanted to use her sporting platform to draw attention to the situation in her homeland. Four years later, the political distance between the two players is evidently still present despite Potapova’s switch to the Austrian federation.
