Wimbledon champ Elena Rybakina dumps top seed Iga Swiatek out of Australian Open

Elena Rybakina defeats World No.1 Iga Swiatek in the Round of 16 of the 2023 Australian Open.

Wimbledon champ Elena Rybakina dumps top seed Iga Swiatek out of Australian Open

Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina (Images via Getty Images)


Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina tore the form book to shreds as she whipped tournament favorite and heartthrob of billions Iga Swiatek 6-4, 6-4 to enter the quarter-finals of the ladies’ singles at the Australian Open on Sunday.

The rise of Kazakhistan players in recent years has been phenomenal in women’s tennis. Elena looked elan and in elegant form as she showed red-hot form to dump the top seed. Given the roller coaster ride that this edition of the AO has provided, Iga crashing out has played havoc with the punters and tills at betting shops the world over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wez226SmlKM

What was special about Elena’s win was her cool game, showing no sign of pressure. Her serve was top-class, as she cranked up the big ones. Boom, Kaboom, the noises could be heard as her racket whacking the fuzzy tennis ball had the audience in raptures.

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That Elena could rifle in six aces showed she was in the mood to destroy. At a time when players are complaining about the ball being heavy and how the game needs to be slowed down even further, bizarrely, Elena was an anti-thesis to all. Kazakh players are solid, built like hulks, though women still look elegant. Matching brawn and beauty, so to say, Elena came out smelling fresh like a rose on Sunday morning.

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Is the pressure of expectation the reason for Iga Swiatek’s loss?

Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek

The kind of presence she showed on course was impressive. Her aces apart, she was the ace on the court, as her winning first serve percentage was at 80 percent. Just imagine, even in these conditions, she was whacking the ball at the fastest serve of 190kmph. That was like intimidating on Sunday in Melbourne, where the crowds had seen the men whip up action in the first week. Elena’s average serve speed was 176kmph, again very high.

In sharp contrast, Iga was subdued. Was it the pressure of expectation or was it being outhit by an opponent who was in touch is hard to say. This loss will hurt Iga, as the AO has not been her favorite surface. She came in with hype and hope. Therein were the problems as the underdog could bark and bite. Elena showed that fighting spirit, the big game, and boom shots to rock the stadium. These days, you can see all the shots in flow and slow motion. Elena looked intimidating, slamming 24 outright winners. Her returns of sere also caught the eye in an important match at the Rod Laver Arena named after the Aussie legend who is now settled in the USA. Rod Laver is in Melbourne now, though.

A kind of loss like this will shake up Iga Swiatek. Nobody wants to see robotic tennis, the same player winning. A fresh pair of legs and hands and a new face, less known, shines. That was what Elena provided as a package, complete, today, to crack open Iga Swiatek the contender. There was a refreshing change as well at the net, where Elena made more sorties to the net.

After all, when you have more than one dimension in your game, it’s more appealing. “I am nervous each time I go on court,” said Elena later. Who was she fooling? Perhaps, Iga!

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