Elena Rybakina crushes Iga Swiatek to seal semis spot at WTA Finals

There’s always a moment in sport when the tide doesn’t just turn, it floods.

Elena Rybakina found that moment against Iga Swiatek in Riyadh and rode it all the way to the semifinals of the WTA Finals, leaving the world No. 2 dazed and dismantled in her wake.

For a player who came into this high-stakes showdown winless in her last four clashes against Swiatek, Rybakina’s 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 triumph felt less like a match and more like a statement. It’s the kind that echoes through locker rooms and across continents.

Let’s be clear, Rybakina didn’t just beat Swiatek. She broke her. After dropping the first set and trailing 0-3 in the early goings, the Kazakh stormed back to win 12 of the next 13 games.

She turned what looked like another routine Swiatek win into one of the most jarring turnarounds of the season, snapping her personal losing streak against the Pole and handing Swiatek her first defeat after winning the opening set since the Australian Open.

“I think I started a little bit slow,” Rybakina admitted afterward, in typical understatement. “But after I got my rhythm, the confidence came, and I could really go for my shots.”

Boy, did she ever. From the second set on, Rybakina’s serve — the most prolific on tour in 2025 with 480 aces — became a laser-guided weapon. She dragged Swiatek deep behind the baseline and punished short returns with relentless aggression.

The stats tell a brutal tale. Swiatek’s first serve points won plunged from 90% in the first set to a dismal 53% in the second. She coughed up 42 unforced errors, with 36 of those bleeding out across sets two and three.

By the end, Rybakina was playing with swagger, closing the match with a second-serve ace. It was her eighth consecutive win and arguably the sweetest of them all.

It’s been a winding path back to form for the 2022 Wimbledon champion. While Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka have hoarded Grand Slam titles in recent seasons, Rybakina has often hovered on the periphery — dangerous, but not quite deadly. Monday’s performance might just change that narrative.

Her place in the final four was confirmed a few hours later when Amanda Anisimova pulled off a comeback of her own, clawing back from a set and a break down to defeat Madison Keys 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The win eliminated Keys and guaranteed Rybakina the top spot in the Serena Williams Group.