Iga Swiatek accused of making an error against Elena Rybakina that was ‘so dumb’ during their French Open match

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Iga Swiatek has reached yet another French Open quarter-final after battling past Elena Rybakina in Paris.

Rybakina praised Swiatek’s intensity after their fourth round match, in which the Polish star beat the Kazakhstan ace 1-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Swiatek has practised stepping back on opposing serves, having been told to do so by her coach Wim Fissette.

And that approach worked against Rybakina, although WTA number five Swiatek also relied on her fantastic mentality to secure the superb comeback win.

The latter is looking to secure a fourth consecutive French Open title this year, with her last loss at the event coming back in 2021.

Rennae Stubbs accuses Iga Swiatek of ‘dumb’ error in French Open win vs Elena Rybakina

But former professional Rennae Stubbs feels there is plenty of room for improvement if Swiatek wants to defend her title.

She said on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast: “I think the biggest turnaround was that Elena Ryabkina was serving unbelievably, returning unbelievably, but Iga was playing horribly on her own service games.

READ MORE: What Chris Evert was saying off-camera about Iga Swiatek while she was losing to Elena Rybakina

“This has been the difference maker for me and will be the difference maker if she wants to win the tournament going forward. She has to serve better and she has to serve smarter.

“I spoke to you about this a couple of weeks ago when she was playing Danielle Collins. You don’t always have to hit a big serve on clay, you have to get your opponent off court.

“Iga Swiatek has one of the best kick serves, particularly on the second court, and why she is trying to hit a big first serve and then to allow Rybakina to go after her second serve, which is always a kick serve, is so dumb.

“Because Rybakina steps inside the baseline for the second serve but if you are a smart player, this is what Sam Stosur would do on clay, hit the kick serve as the first serve when your opponent is behind the baseline because when someone is behind the baseline they can’t be super aggressive.

“And Rybakina doesn’t move that well. Now you have her off the court with a first serve and she is going to hit a good return, her backhand is her best shot, but it’s going to go cross court more than likely and she goes bang with the backhand down the line and she can’t cover it.”

Iga Swiatek vs Elina Svitolina head-to-head record ahead of French Open tie

The former world number one certainly hasn’t been at her very best all season, let alone at this year’s French Open in Paris.

Swiatek has fallen to fifth place in the WTA rankings amid her decline, but she still cannot be written off at Roland Garros.

READ MORE: Naomi Osaka leaves Rennae Stubbs shocked with ‘weird’ and ‘crazy’ comments after her French Open exit

The five-time Grand Slam champion has proven her ability on clay time and again, and thus remains a real threat at the event.

Elina Svitolina now awaits Swiatek in the quarter-finals, with the Pole having fallen to Maria Sakkari at this stage of the 2021 edition.

Rybakina is the only player to take a set off the defending champion this time around, after the Pole beat trio Rebecca Sramkova, Emma Raducanu and Jaqueline Cristian in straight sets.

Svitolina will now be looking to cause an upset, but the 13th seed heads into the match trailing Swiatek 1-3 in their head-to-head.

Their history includes a 2023 Wimbledon quarter-final win for the Ukrainian, but the Pole won their only previous match on clay in their 2021 Rome quarter-final.

But Svitolina can take great confidence ahead of their next meeting having just knocked Italian Open champion Jasmine Paolini out of the French Open.