World no. 1 Swiatek out of Australian Open, loses to reigning Wimbledon champion Rybakina
WTA
Iga Swiatek won't win her first Australian Open trophy, as she lost to the reigning Wimbledon champion, Elena Rybakina.
The name Swiatek or Rybakina is written next to the last three Grand Slam tournaments played. The Kazakhstani player can now extend this streak, as she defeated the WTA World No. 1 in the fourth round of the 2023 Australian Open.
While Rybakina never got past the third round in Melbourne before, Swiatek was defending her points from last year's semi-final run. Before their meeting at the Rod Laver Arena, the two met only a month ago at an exhibition event in Dubai, and it was Rybakina who won that match.
Now, Swiatek was coming into their match after beating all of her opponents in Melbourne without losing a set, which couldn't be said about Rybakina, who lost a set against Danielle Collins in the third round of the tournament.
Still, their fourth-round meeting started better for the Kazakhstani player. Swiatek had three game points in the first game and two break points in the second, but she couldn't win either of those games and soon faced a 0-2 deficit.
Then, she managed to win 12 out of the following 14 points to get the lead for the first and only time in the match, as she would then go on to be broken again and lose the first set 4-6 in 43 minutes.
Despite a confidence boost from the first set, Rybakina didn't start the second set well. She immediately lost her serve and was down 0-3 to the top seed.
However, the reigning Wimbledon champion showed her qualities, which are worth the Rod Laver Arena, and broke the young Pole two more times to win the match 6-4, 6-4 in 90 minutes and eliminate the World No. 1.
In the quarter-finals of the tournament, Rybakina will take on the winner of the match between Coco Gauff and Jelena Ostapenko.
