Former WTA Tour star Laura Robson has given her verdict on Iga Swiatek\u2019s crushing loss to Elena Rybakina at the 2025 WTA Finals in Riyadh.<\/p>\n
Swiatek<\/a> fell 6-3, 1-6, 0-6 to world No 6 and 2022 Wimbledon winner Rybakina in her second round robin match at the season-ending championships.<\/p>\n The defeat comes after Swiatek destroyed reigning Australian Open champion and world No 7 Madison Keys 6-1, 6-2 in her opening match in Riyadh.<\/p>\n In the opening set, Swiatek made five winners to six unforced errors, while Rybakina registered just one winner and 17 unforced errors.<\/p>\n There was a seismic shift, though, as Swiatek recorded seven winners and an alarming 36 unforced errors across the second and third sets. Rybakina, meanwhile, hit 19 winners to 17 unforced errors in the second and third sets combined.<\/p>\n Speaking on Sky Sports after the match, Robson was full of praise for the tactical changes Rybakina implemented after losing the first set.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so impressive how she [Rybakina] did not panic after the first set,\u201d said the former world No 27.<\/p>\n Iga Swiatek\u2019s biggest problem exposed again after crushing defeat at WTA Finals<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n What Elena Rybakina dismantling Iga Swiatek at WTA Finals means for the pair\u2019s qualification hopes<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cShe got back to work and made the changes that were necessary. She took half a step back with her neutral position once the rally started, so she had some more time on the forehand to play with and what a difference that made.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time she had it at a mid-court position, it was a put away. That is when you see Swiatek start to panic, when she feels she doesn\u2019t have time and she can\u2019t make herself known in the point.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a really strong performance; the serve picked up for sure. From courtside, it was clear that she was getting more shape to Swiatek\u2019s backhand return, but the first [serve] picked up as well in terms of speed, and she completely turned that match around.\u201d<\/p>\n Robson suggested that Swiatek was caught off guard by Rybakina\u2019s adjustments and claimed the six-time Grand Slam champion panicked as a result.<\/p>\n \u201cShe (Swiatek) did not anticipate the changes Rybakina made after the first set. From there, that\u2019s where the panic mode was hit by Swiatek,\u201d the Brit said.<\/p>\n \u201cShe just felt like she couldn\u2019t do anything out there. You could see she was talking to Wim Fissette and lots of hands signals. That was not a good sign.<\/p>\n \u201cServing to Swiatek\u2019s backhand made a difference. Then the willingness to compete when the rallies were over three shots was an issue. It\u2019s tough when you are being outplayed.<\/p>\n \u201cOn a court like this, when it\u2019s bouncing up so much, she probably didn\u2019t know what the tactics would be. It didn\u2019t really feel like there was a Plan B, but so much of that was to do with how well Rybakina was playing.\u201d<\/p>\n Rybakina has already ensured she will finish top of Group Serena Williams, and she can conclude the round robin stage with a 3-0 record if she beats Madison Keys on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Swiatek will take on Amanda Anisimova, and the winner will progress to the knockout stage with Rybakina.<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Questions over Madison Keys\u2019 health and next WTA Finals match after no handshake<\/a> The post What Iga Swiatek did in Elena Rybakina WTA Finals loss was\u00a0\u2018not a good sign\u2019, reveals ex-star<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former WTA Tour star Laura Robson has given her verdict on Iga Swiatek\u2019s crushing loss to Elena Rybakina at the 2025 WTA Finals in Riyadh. Swiatek fell 6-3, 1-6, 0-6 to world No 6 and 2022 Wimbledon winner Rybakina in her second round robin match at the season-ending championships. The defeat comes after Swiatek destroyed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Laura Robson reacts to Elena Rybakina beating Iga Swiatek at 2025 WTA Finals<\/h2>\n
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Robson\u2019s assessment of Rybakina\u2019s comeback<\/h2>\n
Tennis News<\/h2>\n
What Robson said about Swiatek<\/h2>\n
What next for Rybakina and Swiatek at the WTA Finals?<\/h2>\n
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