The American lifted the National Bank Open trophy last year in Montréal and kicked off her Toronto campaign with a decisive victory over the former world No. 1.

The former world No. 1 made a thunderous return to hard courts at the National Bank Open, easing past the No. 9 seed in straight sets on Wednesday.

The 2019 champion won the first set 6-0 before losing in three sets, her fourth loss to the veteran Ukrainian in four matches.

Pegula lost just one game in 49 minutes to capture her third career WTA singles title.

The 15th-seeded Samsonova is set to play two matches in one day; the final against Jessica Pegula is scheduled for Sunday night.

Pegula had been 0-2 in semifinals in Canada before beating Swiatek in a match where she trailed 4-2 in the third.

What do Rybakina and Samsonova have left in the tank in Montreal and who wins an unseeded Toronto semifinal: De Minaur or Davidovich Fokina?

The No. 3 seed was forced to save a match point after nearly seeing a decisive tie-break slip away.

The Russian advanced to the semifinals of the WTA 1000 event after a busy Friday at the office.

On Friday, the American beat doubles partner Coco Gauff and the world No. 1 cooled off Danielle Collins.

Pegula snapped her doubles partner's six-match winning streak to reach the semifinals in Canada for the third year in a row.