Elena Rybakina took a significant step towards her second grand slam title as she overpowered and outplayed the second seed Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, advancing 7-5, 6-1 to end Swiatek’s hopes of completing the career grand slam this year.
This immense victory sends Rybakina, the fifth seed and 2023 Australian Open finalist, into her fourth grand slam semi-final. It has been nearly four years since the 26-year-old made her first breakthrough by winning Wimbledon in 2022. Although she has won numerous big titles and established herself as one of the best players in the world, she has as yet failed to drag herself over the line at the grand slams for a second time.
However, Rybakina arrived in Melbourne playing some of the best tennis of her career after dismantling the field at the WTA Finals last November. The disdain with which she put Swiatek away here in set two reinforced her status as one of the leading contenders among the final four.
She will face the sixth seed Jessica Pegula in the semi-finals after the American put together her own spectacular statement performance against the recent Wimbledon and US Open finalist Amanda Anisimova, holding firm at the end of a tight second set to advance to her first semi-final with a 6-2, 7-6 (1) win.
Rybakina and Swiatek have built one of the most significant rivalries in the sport, having competed against each other on so many of the biggest stages. Although Swiatek is the superior player overall, the margins are tight and this is a match-up Rybakina relishes. Her destructive serve, the best in the world, neutralises Swiatek’s return and she robs Swiatek of time with her easy, destructive ball speed off both wings. This is reflected in their countless tight matches, with the head-to-head now even at 6-6.
The serve differential was the story here again. Rybakina did not even serve that well in the first set, landing just 41% of first serves. But she won 93% of the points behind it, conceding only one point. While Rybakina breezed through her service games to reach 6-5, Swiatek served badly under significant scoreboard pressure. In that crucial 6-5 game, Rybakina’s aggression pressured Swiatek to take the initiative and the Pole played an error-strewn service game to relinquish the set.
Having secured the opening set, Rybakina relaxed and she played with total freedom until the end. She was nearly unplayable, firing aces on important points and eviscerating the ball off both wings with total clarity, suffocating Swiatek with her aggression. There was no way out for the Pole, who once again had to endure the grim, familiar experience of being hit off the court by her cold-blooded Kazak rival.
Afterwards, a disappointed Swiatek said she leaves the tournament determined to make significant changes to her game, particularly her serve. She believes the time has come to employ a lighter schedule to ensure she has enough time at home to keep on improving. “Honestly, I know what I need to improve, and it’s kind of the same stuff that I had in my mind before the tournament as well. So there’s no, like, breakthrough lesson,” she said. “I’m just going to keep doing my job, and hopefully [by] the next tournament I’ll get some stuff settled in terms of what I want to do with my game.”
As is often the case with Pegula, she has flown under the radar throughout this tournament. Her game is less flashy than many of the nuclear shotmakers at the top of the game and she is a more composed, understated personality, meaning other players naturally command more attention. However, her level has been incredible in Melbourne, a consequence of her continuous improvement in the second half of her late-blooming career.
Against Anisimova, her performance in the first set was surely one of the best sets of her entire life. She served supremely well, firing down six aces in the set, deflected Anisimova’s enormous ball speed with total ease, responding with flawless depth and sharply redirecting the ball off both wings. After Anisimova forced herself back into the match, establishing a 5-3 second set lead, Pegula coolly dragged herself back into the set. She took advantage of Anisimova’s dire serving and then played a perfect tie-break to advance.
Grand slam quarter-finals were once the greatest challenge of Pegula’s career after the 31-year-old lost the first six quarter-finals she contested. This week, she reached her third grand slam semi-final without dropping a set in five matches. However, with all of the top players congregating in the final stages of this tournament, there are no easy matches. She will have to neutralise another of the most devastating ball strikers in the game on Thursday as she faces Rybakina for a place in the final.
