Swiatek survives huge Rybakina test to return to Roland-Garros quarter-finals
The three-time defending champion edged past Rybakina 1-6, 6-3, 7-5. She will face Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, the No 13 seed, in the last eight
Iga Swiatek, Roland-Garros, 2025 © Michtof / Psnewz
Iga Swiatek staged a remarkable comeback to defeat the perennially dangerous Elena Rybakina, knocking out the twelfth seed 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 to battle into the last eight of Roland-Garros.
It is the Pole’s sixth consecutive quarter-final appearance at the season’s second Grand Slam, and keeps her search for a record fourth straight Roland-Garros title well on track heading into the second week.
But for the first half of the contest, the four-time champion found herself in the rare and unsettling position of being outplayed on Philippe-Chatrier, a court on which Swiatek’s dominance has defined this tournament for the past half a decade.
Put simply, Rybakina was close to perfect across the opening set. The big-hitting Kazakh was at her serene, clean-hitting best as her groundstrokes found effortless, unrelenting depth while her formidable serve barely faltered.
But from a set and a break down, the Pole once again displayed her extraordinary resilience on the clay courts of Paris to battle back to a thoroughly impressive win over her WTA rival.
A match of two halves as rybakina dominates opener
Rybakina broke in the second and fourth games as she glided to a 5-0 lead in the opening set. Swiatek dup deep to save two set points when serving at 5-0 down, only for the Kazakh to step up to the baseline and confidently close out the first stanza, fittingly sealing it with an ace.
Rybakina maintained her dominance to break in the first game of the second set, taking all eight points to sprint into a 2-0 lead.
But Swiatek was able to wrestle her way to a first, precious break of the Kazakh’s serve in the fourth game which proved to be a pivotal momentum shift. The Pole then managed to come through a lengthy fifth game to consolidate before breaking again as a rattled Rybakina allowed errors to begin creeping into her game.
Suddenly it was Swiatek who looked imperious, sweeping five games in a row en route to dragging the match back to parity at one set apiece.
A palpably tense final set went on serve until an exchange of breaks in the seventh and eighth games, with Swiatek nudging ahead for the first time in the contest only to be reigned straight in by her opponent a game later.
A double-fault from Rybakina at 4-4 appeared to have handed Swiatek the crucial break of serve, only for a very timely intervention by chair umpire Kader Nouni deeming the Kazakh’s second serve to have landed in. A replayed point then paved the way for a gutsy hold from Rybakina.
But two games later and Swiatek had another opportunity, seizing upon a poor drop shot from her opponent to earn the decisive break in the eleventh game, before serving out a mammoth win on her second match point in the next game.
swiatek felt like she “was playing jannik sinner” in first set
Across the course of her past three consecutive titles at Roland-Garros, Swiatek has had her back to the wall on numerous occasions only to find a way to get over the line.
Today’s victory against Rybakina ranks somewhere near the top in Swiatek’s testing French Open encounters.
For a set and a bit, it looked as if the Kazakh was going to utterly dismantle the four-time champion.
“First set, I felt like I was playing against Jannik Sinner,” Swiatek told the crowd in her on-court interview.
“She really pushed me. I needed to do something to get back into the game – with her playing like that I didn’t have a lot of hope. At the end, I was able to play my game, and I am super happy.
“I don’t think I have double-faulted three times in one game. It was not easy. We played pretty amazing. It is tough to play here, and it means a lot to win this match and I am through.”
But, as has always been the case over the past three years, the Queen of Clay simply would not be knocked out of her favoured tournament.
As a result, Swiatek will now take on 13th-seeded Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals, as expectations grow around an unprecedent fourth straight women’s singles title in the French capital.
