She had not dropped a set in the previous rounds of the tournament, but she also had not faced a player ranked in the top 30.
Gauff, in her first Grand Slam singles final at age 18, sat in her chair courtside with tears streaming down her face after the defeat. That has not happened at a major since the Open era began in 1968.“Strategy-wise, I mean, going in, honestly it was tough to come up with something with someone who hasn’t lost in a while,” Gauff said. Rybakina's victory means the top two seeds in the men's and women's singles are all out before the quarter-finals. "If you want to win a tournament you have to be better than everybody, and she was better today." "Her ranking should be better, but we all know what happened in Wimbledon," conceded Swiatek. Rybakina broke to love at 1-3 as Swiatek's first serve deserted her.Īt 4-4, the sixth forehand winner of the match from Rybakina created a third break point, which she took when the Pole netted, before serving out with ease to take the match.
Swiatek stepped up at the start of the second set, attacking off her forehand and broke immediately for 2-0 to chants of "Iga, Iga" from a small but noisy contingent of Polish fans in red and white. Top seed Swiatek had her best chance at the beginning of the match, leading 40-0 on her opening service game and 15-40 on Rybakina's delivery in the next.īut it was the 6ft (1.83m) tall Russian-born player who showed her resilience and power to win both for an early 2-0 lead.įrom then on she was always in control, taking the first set with her fourth ace. "So I think that's the most important thing." The goal is to improve but also to stay healthy because it's not easy to perform every week and feel fresh and don't be injured," she said. 'Stay healthy'Īlong with consistency, Rybakina needs to stay free of injury if she wants to build on her stunning Swiatek success. "It doesn't bother me because it's been already six months after Wimbledon and the year just started," said Rybakina, who is seeded 22nd but would have been well inside the top 10 had her Wimbledon win been rewarded in the rankings. Rybakina did not get any ranking points for winning Wimbledon because of the ban on Russian and Belarusian players, meaning her world ranking of 25 does not accurately reflect her growing stature in the women's game.
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