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Iga Swiatek showed incredible resilience to keep her French Open title defence alive, coming from a set down to beat former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in a thrilling last-16 encounter on Sunday.
The top seed and three-time defending champion at Roland Garros was pushed to the limit on Court Philippe Chatrier but ultimately prevailed 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 in a gripping match that lasted two hours and 29 minutes.
Swiatek, who has lifted the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen four times since 2020, was left reeling after a punishing first set and trailed by a break early in the second. However, she clawed her way back to set up a quarter-final clash with Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, who earlier saved three match points in her victory over 2023 runner-up Jasmine Paolini.
Coming into the match, the Polish star’s 2025 clay-court campaign had been far from dominant, following early exits in both Madrid and Rome. That trend seemed to be continuing when 12th seed Rybakina surged into a commanding lead, going 5-0 up in the opening set with barely a mistake. Swiatek managed to get on the board after a long service game but could not avoid dropping the first set.
Speaking after the match, Swiatek admitted the challenge: “The first set felt like I was up against Jannik Sinner. She was playing so well, I didn’t see much of a way back.”
Despite a rocky start to the second set, including several double faults at key moments, Swiatek found her rhythm. She managed to hold serve under pressure in the fifth game before breaking Rybakina to love, shifting the momentum and levelling the match.
The deciding set was tense throughout. Swiatek grabbed a crucial break in the seventh game, only to hand it back with another costly double fault. But with the scores tied at 5-5, she dug deep to break again before serving out the match with a determined hold.
The win improves Swiatek’s head-to-head record against Rybakina to 5-4 and marks her first triumph over the Kazakh on clay.
She now looks to advance past the quarter-final stage at Roland Garros for the fifth time, with a formidable opponent in Svitolina awaiting her in the next round.
