Tennis analysts have warned Iga Swiatek about the threat of Elena Rybakina ahead of the pair\u2019s blockbuster matchup in the quarter-finals of the 2026 Australian Open.<\/p>\n
No 2 seed Swiatek<\/a> and No 5 seed Rybakina<\/a> will face off in the first match on the Wednesday schedule at the Melbourne Grand Slam.<\/p>\n Both players are aiming to win their maiden\u00a0Australian Open<\/a> title, with Rybakina a runner-up in 2023 and Swiatek a two-time semi-finalist.<\/p>\n Swiatek is chasing her seventh major, which would see her complete the career Grand Slam, while Rybakina is vying for her second Slam title.<\/p>\n After Swiatek\u2019s 6-0, 6-3 fourth round hammering of Maddison Inglis, former British No 1 Laura Robson looked ahead to the Pole\u2019s showdown with Rybakina.<\/p>\n \u201cIga is on a mission at the moment and she\u2019s got probably one of the toughest opponents you can get, not that any opponent can be easy now, but Elena Rybakina next, who\u2019s just been cruising through the draw, and she\u2019s going to need to play very, very well,\u201d Robson told TNT Sports.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it is such a good lineup for the quarter-finals on the women\u2019s side of the draw. Iga is still looking for that career Grand Slam with that kind of performance.\u201d<\/p>\n Australian Open: Why Iga Swiatek thinks it \u2018doesn\u2019t make sense\u2019 to focus on Elena Rybakina head-to-head<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Coco Gauff speaks out about racket smash and her serve after brutal Australian Open loss<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n Jamie Murray, a former world No 1 in doubles, also gave his verdict.<\/p>\n \u201cIga\u2019s just got a much bigger weight of shot [than Inglis],\u201d Murray said.\u00a0\u201cShe\u2019s got the ability to manipulate the ball.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a good performance, but she\u2019s going to have much bigger tests coming ahead.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t feel like we\u2019ve learned a whole lot from her and I mean, her next match against Rybakina will be a huge step up, a huge challenge for her, and I think that\u2019s when we\u2019ll know whether she\u2019s really looking to win this title or not.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch the Australian Open on Eurosport, TNT Sports, HBO Max and discovery+<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The winner of Swiatek and Rybakina\u2019s match will play either Amanda Anisimova or Jessica Pegula in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n This will be the 12th meeting between the pair, and Swiatek leads the head-to-head 6-5.<\/p>\n Rybakina won the last encounter at the WTA Finals in November after Swiatek had won the previous four matches.<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Coco Gauff\u2019s \u2018shocking\u2019 Australian Open display could cause \u2018scar tissue\u2019 \u2013 former world No 4<\/a> The post Iga Swiatek warned by experts ahead of Elena Rybakina showdown at Australian Open<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tennis analysts have warned Iga Swiatek about the threat of Elena Rybakina ahead of the pair\u2019s blockbuster matchup in the quarter-finals of the 2026 Australian Open. No 2 seed Swiatek and No 5 seed Rybakina will face off in the first match on the Wednesday schedule at the Melbourne Grand Slam. Both players are aiming […]<\/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-1672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1672","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=1672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Australian Open News<\/h2>\n
What is the head-to-head between Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina?<\/h2>\n
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