THE FRENCH OPEN
French Open 2025 Women’s Day 8
Holder Iga Swiatek fought back after trailing a set and a break to outlast Elena Rybakina 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 on Sunday, reaching the French Open quarter-finals in a late show of strength.
The winner of four of the last five editions at Roland Garros looked like joining 2024 finalist Jasmine Paolini is making an early exit.
The Italian was ousted by Elina Svitolina, who saved three match points on the way to a 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1 victory.
Fifth seed Swiatek gathered her reserves against former Wimbledon winner Rybakina, ignoring three double-faults in one game and using a late break to sneak out the win in two and a half hours.
“I felt like I was playing Jannik Sinner,” former WTA No. 1 Swiatek said. “Elena really pushed me. I needed to get back into the match, and I didn’t have a lot of hopes. I just kept fighting.
“I loosened up at the end and was able to play my game. I’m super-happy with the win.”
The match which featured more than 20 break points marked the first time this century that Swiatek has lost a Grand Slam opening set 6-1; the Pole had won her previous 17 sets at the venue.
“I was patient enough to stay in the match and focus, use any opportunity that came to me.”
Svitolina, wife of Gael Monfils who returned to Tour tennis in early 2024 after giving birth, said that her will to fight kept her alive in the massive fourth-round comeback effort on the Chatrier showcourt against Paolini.
“I can’t believe it finished my way, my head still in the match in a big battle,” the Ukrainian said. “It was really difficult, she was playing well.
“I’m happy I could stay to the end – here I am in the next round.”
The 30-year-old winner said it was the little things that led her to victory.
“I had to be aggressive and focused on my game plan and how to take the small opportunities in the second set.
“It was one or two points that decided that set. I played really well in the third to close it out.
Svitolina engineered a turnaround to knock Paolini from contention a year after the Italian reached her first final at a Grand Slam and followed that up with a similar showing at Wimbledon.,
Svitolina is playing in her 12th edition at Roland Garros and has reached her 13th quarter-final at a Grand Slam by winning her 33rd career match at the venue after two and a half hours.
“I had my chances,” Paolini said. “Maybe one match point I have could played
better, but at the same time, she’s a great player.
“In tennis, this sometimes happens. It’s tough to accept, but you have to.”
Top seeded Aryna Sabalenka fought off frustration as sevenmatch points came and went as opponent Amanda Anisimova dug in.
But the world No. 1 finally prevailed with a backhand winner down the line to return to the Paris last eight.
Last year, Sabalenka dealt with food poisoning as she lost at this stage.
But she is hoping for a positive change at this edition: “I definitely learned a lesson. I’ll do my best to be healthy.
“I want to stay here until the last day, I;ll go in the quarter-finals and do my very best.”
Even after the hard-fought victory, Sabalenka still holds a losing record against Anisimova, who leads their series 5-3.
“She’s a great player, a tough one. We’ve had a lot of battles in the past. I was so focused today, I tried to put the pressure on her.”
Eighth-seeded Australian Open finalist Zheng Qinwen defeated Liudmila Samsonova 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-3 and will carry a 1-6 record into her quarter-final with Sabalenka.
“There are not many words to describe my emotions because I’ve been trying every year, and that’s the real first time for me to be in quarter-final in Roland Garros,” the Chinese winner said.
The Paris Olympic champion said there is little to compare between a major and the Games tournament held once each four years.
“It’s true I won the gold medal, but I don’t consider myself as a defending champion at Roland Garros because it’s Swiatek who won Roland Garros last year.
“It’s different because Grand Slam we need to play seven matches, and the Olympic Games is six matches to get a gold medal.
“I just want to stay calm and fight every single match. Forgot what happened last year, but just fight at this moment in Roland Garros.”
Main photo:- Iga Swiatek celebrates victory – by Roger Parker ISF Ltd
Fading former top 10 regular Stefanos Tsitsipas has lashed out at one-time coach Goran Ivanisevic, accusing the former Wimbledon winner of unfair criticism during their brief collaboration last season.
Greek Tsitsipas once stood among the big beasts of the ATP, achieving a top ranking of this in the world, with Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros and Melbourne.
But with his ranking now at 49th, the 27-year-old remains in a struggle with his game and blames most of his troubles on a lingering back injury.
Croat Ivanisevic, 54, had a brief spell with Tsitsipas last summer as the player attempted to break away from his longtime coach, his father Apostolos.
But family ties proved to be too strong, with Ivanisevic given the elbow after a Wimbledon first-round retirement.
Tsitsipas has complained of unfair criticism from his one-time mentor after Ivanisevic – who formerly coached Novak Djokovic – let loose on the player’s work ethic.
“He has to find a solution for his back issue. I was shocked. I’ve never seen such a poorly prepared player in my life,” Ivanisevic told Croat outlet SportKlub recalling the incident.
“Me, at my age and with this bad knee, I’m three times in better shape than him,” the former world No. 2 added. “In the end, I didn’t say anything bad. Everything I said was true and proved to be so.”
While Ivanisevic has moved on to work with French youngster Arthur Fils, Tsitsipas continues his comeback struggle.
“I didn’t see any point in it. If it was a way of him pushing me into working harder and getting my s*** together, it was definitely not the right tactic.
“I was really hurt,” he told London’s Times.
The top two in the world will clash on Monday for the Cincinnati Masters title as Jannik Sinner meets Carlos Alcaraz in their fourth final of the season.
Holder Sinner celebrated turning 24 with a 7-6 (4), 6-2 takedown of inspired qualifier Terence Atmane, with the Frenchman presenting his opponent with a Pokemon card from his Japanese collection before their semi-final.
Second seed Alcaraz, who lost the final here two years ago to Novak Djokovic, profitted as he prevailed over ailing Alexander Zverev, the 2021 winner here, who suffers from diabetes and was suffering in 32 Celsius heat.
While the German did finish the match after a medical time out, he lost the final 12 points of the match and could do little to stop a patchy Alcaraz, who struggled with four double-faults in a single second-set game.
Sinner and Alcaraz have played finals this season in Rome and Roland Garros – both won by the Spaniard – while Sinner triumphed last month at Wimbledon.
Sinner could become the first man since Roger Federer in 2014-2015 to win back-to-back titles in Cincinnati.
Alcaraz owns the ATP-best record of 53 match wins in 2025.
“It was a very, very tough challenge every time you play a new opponent,” Sinner said after beating the hard-hitting Atmane.
“In the later stages of the tournament,the pressure is on, they deserve to be there.”
Alcaraz said he will work to lift his level in time for the quirky Monday final.
“We started well with good rallies, a good level,” Alcaraz said of his semi-final. “All of a sudden he (Zverev) felt bad and I was thinking more about how he was feeling instead of playing good tennis.
“It was tough and I just wish him all the best.”
Coco Gauff admitted she just doesn’t have the mental and physical bandwidth to pay attention to the freakishly scheduled US Open mixed doubles event which is set to take place over two days even before the start of the major.
The second seed at the Cincinnati Masters who advanced to the third round on Sunday 6-3, 6-2 over Wang Xinyu explained her priorities.
The oddball experiment seeks to draw singles players into the mixed draw with a lure of a USD 1 million prize for the winning pair.
But the event will be staged during the days before the actual tournament – prime time for top players, who also have multiple sponsor PR duties to fulfill while preparing for the Grand Slam which starts on August 25.
“The free week is already packed for me for sponsor things. If I were to lose, I would not be happy.
“So I didn’t want to waste mental energy on that; I just knew it wasn’t going to work out for me with the scheduling-wise.”
The 2023 Open champion added: “I think it’s going to be an exciting two days. I’m not knocking it off for the future.
“But I like to plan my sponsor weeks like a year out, sometimes a
year and a half out.
“When this whole thing was coming up, I was already booked and busy.”
Main photo:- Coco Gauff won Roland Garros 2025 – by Roger Parker ISF Ltd
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