Fourth seed Rybakina decimates Svitolina to storm into quarterfinals

New Delhi,UPDATED: Jun 3, 2024 16:26 IST

Fourth seed Elena Rybakina stormed into the quarterfinals of Roland Garros 2024 after outclassing 14th seed Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-3 in the fourth round match on Monday. Rybakina stamped her authority against Svitolina, who reached the last-eight last year in Paris, completing the win in an hour and 9 minutes at the Philippe-Chatrier.
It was Rybakina's second win over Svitolina on the tour as the Kazakhstan star matched her best-ever result on the clay court of Paris.

"She is a great fighter. Always a difficult match against here. But, I am really happy to win against her, here," Rybakina said in an on-court interview.

It was a sluggish start as both the players dropped a serve. Russian-born Rybakina upped her level up and cruised through the first set.

In the second set, the 29-year-old Svitolina was no match again for Rybakina as the 19th-ranked Ukrainian showed signs of fatigue from the start and lacked precision throughout.

Rybakina has been in dominant form in Paris after having headed to the French Open with a win in the WTA 500 tournament in Stuttgart where she defeated Iga Swiatek in the semi-final. She then reached the semi-final of the Madrid Open, eventually losing to Aryna Sabalenka.

The former Wimbledon champion had reached the final of the Australian Open last year, but had struggled for consistency in Grand Slams. She began the year with a second-round exit in Melbourne, but the 24-year-old looks poised to go deep into the draw in Paris, this time.

Rybakina will face the winner of another fourth-round match between 12th seed Paolini Jasmine and Elina Avanesyan.

Rybakina's quick decimation of Elina Svitolina comes a day after World No. 1 Iga Swiatek ran through No. 41 Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0 in just 40 minutes.