Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina meet in the quarterfinal of the 2023 tennis Italian Open. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.
Iga Swiatek is coming off a straight set win over Donna Vekic that took 19 games to decide. In the victory, Swiatek won 74 percent of her first serve points and 48 percent of her second serve points. Swiatek won 66 percent of her total service points and converted on 3 of her 3 break points. Swiatek got 69 percent of her first serves in play and hit 3 aces. Swiatek has now won 12 of her last 13 matches and has yet to drop a set this tournament. Swiatek looks to make her ninth career WTA 1000 semifinal and is 8-0 in previous quarterfinal matches. Swiatek has won 9 of her last 10 matches on clay court.
Elena Rybakina is coming off a straight set win over Marketa Vondrousova that took 18 games to decide. In the victory, Rybakina won 73 percent of her first serve points and 39 percent of her second serve points. Rybakina won 60 percent of her total service points and converted on 5 of her 7 break points. Rybakina got 62 percent of her first serves in play and hit 4 aces. Rybakina has played just 5 sets to get to this point. Rybakina looks to make her third career WTA 1000 semifinal, and she’s 2-3 in quarterfinal matches. Rybakina has 13 career wins over top-10 players, and 4 of those wins came this year. Rybakina has won 6 of her last 9 matches on clay court.
Rybakina has won 3 of the 4 meetings against Swiatek, which includes a straight set win this year in Indian Wells. Swiatek’s lone win was the first meeting in 2021 Ostrava. All 4 meetings have come on hard court and all 4 matches were decided in straight sets.
Swiatek is going to be favored for obvious reasons, as she’s the better player and she’s had more consistent success in big tournaments. However, Rybakina has beaten Swiatek in each of the last 6 sets, and that includes two victories this year. Rybakina is also a top-10 player in her own right, so don’t sleep.
We’re getting four times our money with Rybakina. I have to take it.
