Iga Swiatek narrowly reached the quarterfinals of Roland Garros on Sunday. The Polish player needed three sets against Elena Rybakina: 6-1, 3-6 and 7-5. She will now face Elina Svitolina, who saved three match points against Jasmine Paolini.
Swiatek had a terrible start to her match against Rybakina. The world number five was quickly 0-5 behind and lost the first set within 35 minutes.
In the second set, Swiatek immediately fell behind by a break, but then recovered. The four-time Roland Garros winner fought her way to a 4-2 lead and forced a decisive set.
In that set, Swiatek took a break lead in the seventh game, but Rybakina immediately restored the balance. In the eleventh game, the 24-year-old Polish player broke again, after which she did not relinquish the victory.
Rybakina survives three match points against former finalist Paolini
In the quarterfinals, Swiatek will face Svitolina. The Ukrainian survived three match points against Paolini, who reached the final of Roland Garros last year, and won 4-6, 7-6 (6) and 6-1.
The fourth-seeded Paolini seemed to be on her way to an easy victory. She led 4-1 in the second set, but did not maintain the high level. At a 5-4 lead, she missed two match points and in the tiebreak she missed another match point.
Svitolina did strike in the tiebreak and was much stronger than the 29-year-old Italian in the third set. The thirteenth-seeded Ukrainian reached the quarterfinals of Roland Garros for the fifth time in her career. The previous four times (in 2015, 2017, 2020 and 2023) that was also the final stop.
Paolini not only reached the final of Roland Garros last year, but also of Wimbledon. She lost on the London grass to the Czech Barbora Krejcíková.