Has Iga Swiatek just turned her season around?

PARIS -- Iga Swiatek took a large measurement guardant successful her quest for a grounds 4th consecutive French Open rubric -- and 5th wide -- erstwhile she bushed Elena Rybakina 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 connected Sunday.

Swiatek, who has struggled for apical signifier this twelvemonth and whose past last was astatine Roland-Garros 12 months ago, trailed by a acceptable and 2-0 but recovered her crippled erstwhile she needed it astir to beforehand to the quarterfinals, wherever she volition play Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.

How did she bash it and what does it mean for her? Here are 3 takeaways from a perchance important win.

Swiatek recovered her serve

Rybakina, a erstwhile Wimbledon champion and the victor successful Strasbourg connected the eve of the French Open, was connected occurrence successful the archetypal set, blasting 12 winners and putting Swiatek nether changeless pressure. The biggest occupation for Swiatek was her serve, an country of her crippled she has been tweaking nether the tutelage of her manager Wim Fissette, but which has been a conflict passim the clay-court season.

As the archetypal 5 games slipped distant successful small implicit 20 minutes, Swiatek was good beneath 50% connected archetypal serve, and erstwhile she needed to deed a second, she was winning conscionable 20% of the points. She steadied the vessel a small astatine the extremity of the acceptable to astatine slightest get connected the board, but her service was letting her down. In the 2nd set, she took a small gait off, going for much angle, utilizing much assemblage serves, and arsenic Rybakina's level dipped slightly, Swiatek worked her mode backmost into the match.

By the end, she was up astatine 57% and with Rybakina beneath 50, she had clip to get into the points and crook the lucifer around.

Swiatek stayed patient, upped the spin

In her well-documented struggles this spring, the wheels person travel disconnected the Swiatek crippled erstwhile she's been successful trouble, with aboriginal losses successful Stuttgart and Rome and a humbling by Coco Gauff successful Madrid. But this time, though determination were mutterings toward her squad astatine times, she stayed calm capable to deliberation intelligibly and alteration things.

Standing a small deeper connected returns, she was capable to get into the points amended connected the Rybakina service and began to usage her crosscourt forehand to large effect, pulling her hostile retired of court.

At 2-2 successful the second, she survived 3 consecutive double-faults connected the advertisement tribunal to clasp and pb successful a acceptable for the archetypal clip and from past on, her assurance grew.

Even astatine 4-4 successful the deciding set, erstwhile she thought she had breached service lone for a Rybakina treble responsibility to beryllium changed by the umpire connected introspection of the mark, she stayed patient. She held to emotion successful the adjacent game, breaking for 6-5 and serving retired for victory.

"First acceptable I felt similar I was playing against Jannik Sinner," she said. "I needed to bash thing to get backmost into the game, the mode she was playing, I didn't person a batch of hopes, but I kept fighting. At the extremity I was capable to play my crippled truthful I was happy."

What could this mean for Swiatek?

Everything. Sometimes it takes lone 1 moment, 1 large result, to crook astir a player's play and the mode Swiatek celebrated arsenic her last forehand sped distant for a winner, with a treble fist pump, emitted a operation of joyousness and relief.

A period ago, this mightiness person been a lucifer that got away, quickly, but this was overmuch much similar the old, mean Swiatek, ripping forehands with vicious spin, uncovering solutions erstwhile required. When Rybakina bushed Jelena Ostapenko, whose 6-0 head-to-head vantage implicit Swiatek would person been successful Swiatek's caput again had they met successful Paris, it seemed similar it was a changeable of luck. But a triumph implicit Rybakina, who had beaten Swiatek 4 times retired of eight, won some their erstwhile meetings connected clay and was playing unthinkable tennis, could beryllium a triumph that starts to reconstruct her aura of invincibility.

Swiatek's biggest rivals for the title, who came into the lawsuit sensing that she was vulnerable, volition instrumentality notice.