French Open: Iga Swiatek comes back to beat Elena Rybakina and extend bid for a 4th title in a row
PARIS (AP) — Iga Swiatek turned things around at Roland-Garros after dropping eight of the first nine games against 12th-seeded Elena Rybakina in the fourth round Sunday, putting together a 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory to extend her bid for a record fourth consecutive French Open championship.
The big-serving and hard-hitting Rybakina — who won Wimbledon in 2022 — got off to a stunning start, leading 5-0 after less than 20 minutes and grabbing 24 of the initial 32 points. She was responsible for 10 of the match's first 12 winners.
'I needed to do something to get back in the match and, honestly, with her playing like that, I didn't have a lot of hope,' Swiatek said afterward.
There was more of the same early in the second set, when Rybakina went up a break — Swiatek double-faulted to close the first game, then turned to her team in the stands with her palms up and said something — and led 2-0.
That, though, is when Swiatek suddenly transformed back into what she's been so often in recent seasons, but not over the past 12 months: a seemingly invincible force on red clay who has won four of the past five titles at the French Open, where she is now 39-2 for her career.
She carried a 24-match tournament winning streak into Sunday and a chance to become the first woman in the Open era, which began in 1968, to win the Roland-Garros trophy four years in a row.
That certainly seemed in danger at the outset in Court Philippe-Chatrier, where Swiatek had trouble dealing with Rybakina's power and repeatedly was forced into errors. Given the rough stretch since June 2024 for Swiatek, a 23-year-old from Poland, maybe it would not have been entirely shocking for her to take a loss Sunday.
After all, Swiatek hasn't reached the final of any event since earning the trophy in Paris a year ago and has slid from No. 1 to No. 5 in the WTA rankings.
That rut includes a surprising exit in the semifinals at the 2024 Summer Olympics, which were contested at Roland-Garros; she ended up with the bronze medal. Then, later last season, she was banned for a total of one month after testing positive for a banned substance; her explanation was accepted that the result was unintentional and caused by a contaminated medicine.
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In the quarterfinals, Swiatek will play No. 13 Elina Svitolina. Svitolina is three-time major semifinalist but 0-4 in previous French Open quarterfinals.
Svitolina saved three match points earlier Sunday to get past 2024 runner-up Jasmine Paolini 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1. All of the top eight women's seeds reached the fourth round; No. 4 Paolini was the first to exit.
Swiatek was almost the next, but she pulled out the tight win.
___
Howard Fendrich has been the AP's tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
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