By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Sunday, June 1, 2025
Photo credit: Antoine Couvercelle-ROLEX
Dropping eight of nine games would leave most feeling terror tremors on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Facing a 1-6, 0-2 deficit to Elena Rybakina today, Iga Swiatek skipped shivers adopting simple mind set: Fight for every ball.
Reigning Roland Garros champion Swiatek pulled off a spirited comeback edging Rybakina 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the Roland Garros quarterfinals for the sixth straight year.
Swiatek said this comeback is confirmation she can perform under pressure after a subpar season.
“It’s a great confirmation for me that I can handle the pressure and everything, but honestly, I wasn’t expecting to have an easy score against Elena,” Swiatek said. “I also had an easy score against her, but losing, you know, because she’s a great player. So for sure that wasn’t something that I even considered today.
“Yeah, no matter what the score is, I’m going to just try to play the best tennis possible any minute. It doesn’t really matter, honestly, but for sure, as I said, it’s great to overcome some challenges during the match.”
It is Swiatek’s 25th straight Roland Garros win, equaling Hall of Famer Monica Seles for second-longest Paris Open Era women’s win streak behind Chrissie Evert (29).
Swiatek said spacing out helped her turn the match around.
Backing up further behind the baseline gave Swiatek more time to return Rybakina’s second serve as the match progressed.
Rybakina won just nine of 21 second-serve points and did not hit an ace in the final set.
“[Coach] Wim, it was his plan to kind of convince me sometimes to try it out, but I wasn’t sure if that’s my thing,” Swiatek said. “Because I remember a few years back, when I started being more aggressive, I started winning more.
“I think girls are serving faster now, and everybody is developing.
“There are some limits to what you can react to, you know. I think the coaching actually really helped me today, because I wouldn’t come up with this myself. Even though I practice it a little bit, it’s still like a weird thing for me to do.
“But for sure it helped. Yeah, as I said, it gave me more time to just play back some balls.”
Next up for Swiatek is a quarterfinal clash vs. 30-year-old Ukrainian veteran Elina Svitolina who saved three match points upsetting 2024 finalist Jasmine Paolini.
“It means a lot. I think I needed that kind of win to like feel these feelings that I’m able to win under pressure, and even if it’s not going the right way, you know, still turn the match around to win it,” Swiatek said. “For sure it’s a great confirmation for me. Yeah, I for sure wanted to have a match like that.
“Obviously, it’s great to also have full control over the match, but against great players, it’s not always going to be possible. I’m happy that I fought, and I also problem-solved on court.”
