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Top seed Iga Swiatek will face Elena Rybakina in the quarter-finals of the Italian Open
Iga Swiatek was invincible in 2022 and she has replicated her form even this year. However, she has choked in the final stages of some of the tournaments in 2023 including the recently concluded Madrid Open, where she finished runners-upw.
Swiatek has won two WTA titles already this year – the Qatar Open and the Stuttgart Open besides reaching the semi-finals of the Indian Wells Masters and finishing as runners-up at the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Madrid Open.
The World No.1 has been at her sublime best in Rome and hasn’t dropped a set yet. She demolished Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-0, 6-0 in her opening encounter before registering another dominating victory against Lesia Tsurenko. She then went on to beat 21st seed Donna Vekic 6-3, 6-4 to set up a quarter-final clash against Rybakina. Swiatek is one of the favourites to win the title and it would be a major upset if she fails to do so.
Elena Rybakina is one of the most in-form players on the WTA tour at the moment. She has made the finals of two tournaments so far this year – the Australian Open and the Miami Open besides winning the Indian Wells Masters. However, there has been a dip in her form of late. She has come to Rome following a shocking first-round exit from the Madrid Open last month and is desperate to turn things around.
Rybakina is seeded No.7 at this tournament and received a ‘Bye’ in the first round due to her superior ranking. She got the better of Jasmine Paolini in her opening encounter and then received a walkover mid-way through her next match against Anna Kalinskaya. In the Round of 16, the seventh seed beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-3, 6-3 to set up a quarter-final clash against Swiatek.
Date – Thursday, 18th May
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Tennis Channel
Start Time – To be Announced
Location – Foro Italico
Match details – Quarter-final
Swiatek and Rybakina have played each other three times before on the WTA tour. All the matches have been closely fought but Rybakina has the slight upper hand and leads 2-1 on head to head. It’s a difficult match to call as both players are pretty close in terms of rankings and the performance on that particular day is likely to make a difference. We are predicting an intense encounter with Iga Swiatek eventually coming out on top in three sets.
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