Iga Swiatek’s bid to win her fifth French Open title ended with a straight-set loss to Marta Kostyuk at Roland Garros, and pundits have reacted to the upset.
World No 3 Swiatek, who was playing on her 25th birthday, fell 5-7, 1-6 to world No 15 Kostyuk in the fourth round of the Paris major.
Swiatek was the dominant force on clay courts for much of the early part of this decade, but she has not won a title on the surface since her triumph at the 2024 French Open.
Chris Evert, Tim Henman and Anne Keothavong all discussed Swiatek’s loss on TNT Sport and Eurosport.
Chris Evert: “For Iga, it’s back to the drawing board. I guess it was a little too early to think her game would change that drastically after having a new coaching team as it’s only been a few weeks.
“Back to the drawing board and try to figure out her game style and how she will play. Keep it simple but clean up those errors, how to get maybe a bigger serve, how to feel more comfortable coming to the net.”
“There are some great players left but you can’t take anything for granted. The fact those top seeds lost, the depth is there and these players aren’t intimidated any more.”
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Anne Keothavong: “The first set, we saw a lot of high-quality exchanges.
“There was a total collapse from Swiatek in the second set, I didn’t see enough fight.
“I didn’t see any desire to change anything out there. Credit to Marta Kostyuk, she’s going from strength to strength, the only woman who has yet to lose a match on clay this season. She’s looking good, moving well, and she looks relaxed as well.”
Tim Henman: “The lack of recognition from Swiatek as to what works and what doesn’t… What doesn’t work is unforced errors.
“At every level of this sport it’s about not making mistakes. Admittedly, you’ve got to be able to hit the ball pretty hard and go close to the line, but Swiatek made probably 40 unforced errors and around 13 winners, that’s a huge differential.
“If you’re giving your opponent a 30-love start in every game, you’re going to be up against it, there never was a change of tactic to say okay, I’m going to stay in this rally, play with shape, ask my opponent to try and hit winners.
“After that first set, it snowballed so quickly. 7-5 6-1 is a hugely disappointing result for someone who has had so much success here.”
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The post ‘I didn’t see enough fight’ – Iga Swiatek criticised after French Open loss to Marta Kostyuk appeared first on Tennis365.
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