The reigning Roland Garros champion and reigning Wimbledon champion will meet in the quarterfinals for the fourth time, and the third time this season.
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The top seed Iga Swiatek overcame an overnight rain delay to reach her third straight Internazionali BNL d’Italia quarterfinal, defeating No.21 seed Donna Vekic 6-3, 6-4 to set up a showdown with Elena Rybakina in the last eight. Swiatek, the two-time defending champion, has now won 14 straight matches and 24 straight sets at the Foro Italico. The last player to defeat her in Rome was Barbora Krejcikova in the third round in 2021, and the only player to defeat her in this tournament was Arantxa Rus in the first round in 2020. In the Open Era, only five other players have won 14 or more consecutive matches in Rome. Swiatek succeeds Chris Evert, Conchita Martinez, Gabriela Sabatini, Maria Sharapova, and Serena Williams.
Swiatek improved to 4-0 overall against Vekic in their first clay-court meeting. Only once has the Croat won a set, in the 2022 San Diego final. This time, Vekic kept things tight, becoming the first player in this tournament to break Swiatek’s serve in the first set. Vekic, ranked 24th, sealed the break with a fine drop shot, a strategy she used successfully five of six times. However, that was the only break point she was able to convert out of seven. Swiatek, on the other hand, took all three of her break chances on the Vekic serve and found 19 winners to her opponent’s 14.
The reigning Roland Garros champion and reigning Wimbledon champion will meet in the quarterfinals for the fourth time, and the third time this season. Though Swiatek won their first meeting in the 2021 Ostrava quarterfinals, Rybakina has won both of their 2023 meetings without dropping a set, for a total of 12 games. She knocked Swiatek out of the Australian Open in the fourth round 6-4, 6-4, then ended the Pole’s title defence in the semifinals 6-2, 6-2.
“I would say for now I don’t have any mindset,” she told press after defeating Vekic. “I would say it’s kind of neutral. I just want to treat this match as any other one. Coming back to my previous matches against Elena, it doesn’t make sense. It was on hard court. I know how I felt. This time I don’t have any expectations. I’m just going to come out and play the best game possible.”
“I think [clay] changes it a lot,” she added. “It’s more rallies, it’s more physical, she has more time, I have more time. I think it’s much different than the hard courts for sure. I’m not expecting much. For me, it’s a practice. I’m taking it this way. Hopefully, it will help me perform at the French Open.”
