No. 2 Elina Svitolina saved 16 break points to rally for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 defeat of No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan to reach the Italian Open semifinals for the first time since 2018 on Wednesday in Rome.
The Ukrainian competitor saved 80% of the break points she faced on her serve to win in a battle between former Italian Open champions. Svitolina won the event back to back in 2017-18, while Rybakina won it in 2023.
Svitolina will face three-time Italian Open champion and fourth-seeded Iga Swiatek in the semifinals after the latter’s convincing 6-1, 6-2 defeat of No. 5 Jessica Pegula.
Svitolina clinched the victory with an ace up 40-30 in the decisive third set. After she was broken twice in the first set, she was broken two more times in the third set. She made up for the latter, though, by coming through with three third-set breaks of Rybakina, who was coming off a title in Stuttgart and had advanced to at least the semifinals in each of her last three events.
Svitolina won despite finishing with far fewer aces (7-1) and the same number of double faults (five). She broke Rybakina four times in 13 opportunities.
Swiatek needed just 67 minutes to win her quarterfinal. The Polish competitor was a thorough victor, jumping ahead 5-0 in the first set and 4-0 in the second. She hit 77.8% of her first serves and won 77.1% of her first-service points, facing no break points while converting 4 of 7 on Pegula’s serve.
The six-time Grand Slam champion hasn’t gotten off to the start to the season expected of her, making a coaching change in March. However, she’s through to her first semifinal of the season after her first top-10 win this year less than two weeks out from the start of the French Open, where she’s won four of her six majors.
“For sure I’m really happy with the match,” Swiatek told the media after her win. “From the beginning, I felt like I can dictate. Tactically, everything made sense as well. I was feeling the ball really well. I just used my chance and was pretty confident.”
Swiatek improved to 7-5 against Pegula, with six of those wins coming in straight sets. She holds a 4-2 lead in the head-to-head series against Svitolina ahead of their Thursday semifinal but Svitolina won a three-set quarterfinal battle at Indian Wells in March.
No. 3 Coco Gauff faces No. 26 Sorana Cirstea of Romania in the other semifinal.
–Field Level Media
