French Open: How Iga Swiatek roared back from a nightmare start to keep her Roland Garros streak alive

Indian Express

2 days ago

It was a tense exchange on Friday in a press conference with Amelie Mauresmo, the tournament director of the French Open that opened a debate about whether Roland Garros had been unfair in their showcasing of women's tennis. No women's matches have been scheduled for the single-match night-session on the showpiece Court Philippe-Chatrier since 2023. Mauresmo defended the tournament's position resolutely, claiming it was not a case of discrimination but merely an attempt to give the spectators their money's worth with a longer match: with the men playing best-of-five sets as opposed to the women's best-of-three.
It can be left to the opinions of a discerning French crowd, who have watched Grand Slam tennis for generations, over which is the superior entertainment product – Novak Djokovic's processional straight-sets win over Austria's Filip Misolic, played in the night session on Saturday, or the high-stakes, high-wire victory of three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek over 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, played on Sunday afternoon in front of a slow-filling crowd, that lasted longer and went to the wire.
At any rate, the Parisian crowds that did make it into Chatrier early on Sunday were treated to two thrillers – Elina Svitolina beating last year's finalist Jasmine Paolini after saving two match points in the first match – and Swiatek's comeback triumph of 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 over Rybakina in the second.
Not on my court! 🙅‍♀️🟠
Four-time champion Iga Swiatek survives a three-set thriller 🆚 Rybakina. Watch the best moments in our highlights, presented by @Emirates ✈️#RolandGarros #FlyBetter #Emirates pic.twitter.com/C8d8Zp1pja
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 1, 2025
Nearly two-and-a-half hours of captivating tennis full of momentum shifts, Swiatek and Rybakina took turns to produce moments of sensational shotmaking as well as nervy errors. The two former Major champions played out a match worthy of a stage later than the fourth round, such has been their slide down the rankings despite their high ceiling levels.
The intense contest was indicative of quite a few things in the larger context of this tournament and the rest of the season. Rybakina's steady level, big serve-and-return combination and clean groundstrokes can threaten the very best in the game, but her inability to get a hold of her nerves in tight moments may explain why her trophy cabinet contains only one Major so far.
For Swiatek, the muscle memory of a champion who is now on an 18-match winning streak at the French Open and has won four titles in the last five years in Paris, did not fail. In faltering form and without confidence heading into this tournament, this match represented the kind of banana skin that a player with lesser resolve may have slipped on. But the Pole rode through and raised her level in the tough moments.
Rybakina and Swiatek are producing some AMAZING tennis in this 3rd set 🧱#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/hsel7FYrB5
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 1, 2025
Rybakina was in total control in the first set, racing into a 4-0 lead and seeing it out at 6-1. The Kazakh was in fine form, exploiting Swiatek's familiar weakness – the slightly longer switch she makes from serve to her extreme Western grip forehand – by rushing her returns and rattling her. She found the right moments to test Swiatek's resolve, throwing in the odd moonball.
0-2 down in the second set, with her crown at risk of slipping and the ignominy of a potential beatdown at a tournament in which she has not lost a match in four years, Swiatek rose to the challenge. Having struggled with her footwork, she made a few adjustments. With Rybakina veering towards her weaker backhand, she began taking bigger cuts of it and hitting gutsier shots.
Most crucially, she stayed tough when Rybakina showed signs of cracking. The Kazakh netted an easy overhead to give her back a break, after which Swiatek was forced to save as many as seven break points to hold on in the second set, before she rolled with it and equalled scores.
The momentum swung dramatically but Rybakina's level did not fall. A cat-and-mouse chase began in the high-intensity third set, with each player saving break points and then trading breaks. A potentially decisive momentum shift threatened at 4-4, when, up 15-40, Rybakina ostensibly hit a double fault to give Swiatek the advantage before the chair umpire overruled it. Rybakina returned with a few service bombs and held.
But Swiatek had gotten too far for a moment such as this to allow her focus to waver. Not in her house. She held with force and rained down big returns to force a break and eventually served out the match; her superiority in the important moments making the decisive impact in this closely-fought contest, as is often the case with the very best players.
This may be the kind of match that turns the four-time French Open champion's form around. A quarterfinal against Svitolina, and a potential semifinal against Zheng Qinwen, who beat her at Roland Garros at the Paris Olympics, or top seed Aryna Sabalenka lie in waiting too. But with performances such as this, she has given the rest of the field more reason to worry than how much they will worry her.