Iga Swiatek\u2019s reign as the queen of Roland Garros has come to an end, with Aryna Sabalenka inflicting a 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-0 defeat on her rival in a compelling semi-final.<\/p>\n
Sabalenka will now get a chance to confirm her status as Swiatek\u2019s successor as the new dominant force in women\u2019s tennis when she plays in her first French Open final on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The defeat for Swiatek confirms her shocking slide down the WTA Rankings, with the 2,000 points she won at Roland Garros last year dropping off her total.<\/p>\n
It means she is on course to slide down to No 7 when the rankings are updated on Monday, ending a long spell in the top four of the women\u2019s rankings for the five-time Grand Slam champion.<\/p>\n
That dip in ranking will have an impact on Swiatek\u2019s hopes in upcoming tournaments, as she could face Sabalenka as early as the quarter-final if she is seeded No 7 for Wimbledon.<\/p>\n
WTA Rankings Winners & Losers French Open: Sabalenka & Gauff boosted, Swiatek battles on, Boisson\u2019s milestone<\/a><\/p>\n The 7 women with highest French Open win percentage: Iga Swiatek one of two over 90%, Serena Williams 7th<\/a><\/p>\n This win ensured Sabalenka became the first player to reach the final in three consecutive women\u2019s singles Grand Slam events (US Open 2024, Australian and French Open 2025) since Serena Williams (Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon 2016).<\/p>\n She also became the third player in the 2000s to reach multiple singles Grand Slam finals for three or more consecutive years after Venus Williams (2000-2003) and Serena Williams (2008-2010).<\/p>\n The bigger concern for Swiatek must be the impact this loss will have on her already fragile self-belief, with former French Open finalist Alex Corretja telling TNT Sports that he was impressed by the quality served up by Swiatek and Sabalenka.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was amazing, the way they were playing. It was fast,\u201d said Corretja.<\/p>\n \u201cThe conditions were difficult for both, but I was amazed they both kept their focus and momentum. In the third, I\u2019m not sure if Aryna was going to be OK, but she cruised it. It was difficult for Iga to adapt.<\/p>\n \u201cThe beginning of the match was difficult for Iga and she was making too many mistakes. I think the conditions benefitting Aryna, heavier with no wind that she could hit through. She then got more stable and the second set changed completely.<\/p>\n \u201cIga lost a little bit of her DNA in the third set. I feel like Iga has been working hard to become an aggressive player which is very good for her when she faces Rybakina or Sabalenka who have so much power.<\/p>\n \u201cShe also needs to stay solid. She seems a little bit rushed and she\u2019s maybe going for shots she\u2019s not comfortable with. So she needs to do both because there were too many unforced errors.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not easy because she has been so solid and won four times here but realised she needed to add something else. I think she will find it but it takes a little while to understand how to play without losing her identity.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a good tournament for her to come back and do well, but she was the defending champion. Aryna is showing why she is number one in the world right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Swiatek will now head into a grass court swing where she has traditionally struggled, with questions over her coaching set up and so many elements of her game now likely to come under the microscope as she prepares to restart her faltering career.<\/p>\n READ NEXT: One number will sting Iga Swiatek more than any other after French Open exit<\/a><\/p>\n The post Iga Swiatek\u2019s shocking rankings slide confirmed after French Open hammering<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Iga Swiatek\u2019s reign as the queen of Roland Garros has come to an end, with Aryna Sabalenka inflicting a 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-0 defeat on her rival in a compelling semi-final. Sabalenka will now get a chance to confirm her status as Swiatek\u2019s successor as the new dominant force in women\u2019s tennis when she plays in […]<\/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-561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561","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=561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}