The spring of Iga Swiatek’s discontent continued Saturday when was she was ousted by Danielle Collins in the third round of the Italian Open in Rome.
Collins’ 6-1, 7-5 upset win over the World No. 2 player seemed improbable on paper. Collins had lost to Swiatek in seven of their past eight matches. And Swiatek, of Poland, had won 21 of her past 22 matches on the clay court in Rome, taking home the title in three of the past four years.
But this isn’t the same Swiatek. She hasn’t won a tournament since she triumphed at the French Open in Roland Garros last June, winning her fourth Paris grand slam. When the new rankings come out Monday, she will tumble from No. 2 to No. 4 at the highest.
Swiatek has held the No. 1 or No. 2 ranking since March 20, 2022. Her nine losses this season equal the number she had in all of the 2024 season, when she finished 64-9.
After the match, Collins said she drew on her experience gained in many matches with Swiatek.
“Obviously, I played against Iga so many times,” Collins said. “When you play that many close matches and also play your best tennis and lose — you learn a lot.”
Collins’ previous win over Swiatek was highly memorable. She dominated Swiatek in straight sets to reach the 2022 Australian Open final.
Collins finished with 32 winners and 15 unforced errors, compared with 15 and 22, respectively, for Swiatek. Collins also cashed in on six of her eight break chances, while Swiatek took advantage of only two of 10.
“It hasn’t been easy,” Swiatek told reporters of her funk. “For sure, I’m doing something wrong. So I need to just regroup and change some stuff.”
It was the first Top 10 win for Collins in more than a year and her third victory in 16 attempts against a World No. 2 (Angelique Kerber, 2019, and Ashleigh Barty, 2021).
In the fourth round, Collins will meet No. 16 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 winner over Hailey Baptiste.
No. 3 Jessica Pegula also went down to defeat as No. 25 Elise Mertens of Belgium rolled to a 7-5, 6-1 upset. Mertens had a 19-11 edge in winners, saved 7 of 8 break points and converted all four break opportunities while improving to 4-1 all-time against Pegula.
Mertens will face No. 13 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia. Shnaider defeated Jaqueline Cristian of Romania 6-3, 6-3.
Peyton Stearns came from behind and emerged from a tiebreaker to upset fellow American Madison Keys, the No. 5 seed, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3). The difference in the tiebreaker was on serve, with Keys losing serve twice and Stearns holding serve.
Stearns will face unseeded Naomi Osaka of Japan. Osaka rallied for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Czech Marie Bouzkova.
No. 6 Jasmine Paolini of Italy moved past No. 27 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 6-4, 6-3 and next will play No. 17 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia. She advanced on a walkover over Laura Siegemund of Germany.
–Field Level Media
