Iga Swiatek Knocked Out of Italian Open by Danielle Collins

On Saturday, Iga Swiatek and Danielle Collins faced off in the third round of the Italian Open (Internazionali BNL d'Italia). The 29-seed Collins upset the two-seed Swiatek in a straight sets victory: 6-1, 7-5.

Not only did Swiatek lose to a rival who taunted her on Instagram back in January, but her game is in disarray.

Swiatek failed to defend her title in Rome and continues to hemorrhage WTA Rankings points during clay court season. After today's loss, Swiatek will fall out of the top three for the first time since March 2022.

Collins played fearlessly, tallying 32 winners and only 15 unforced errors, to Swiatek's 15 winners and 22 unforced errors. Collins was 6/8 in break point opportunities, while Swiatek was only 2/10.

Swiatek's coach, Wim Fissette, spotted his player's hesitancy and shouted instructions from his corner. "Iga, very simple. Play to win. Put your energy into it — play to win."

Swiatek fought back after a dreadful first set but was unable to force a decider. Her campaign in Rome went up in smoke during the one-hour and 44-minute slog.

Entering today's match, Swiatek had won seven of her last eight meetings against Collins. Even more impressively, the Polish superstar had won 21 of her last 22 at the Rome Masters.

After pulling off the upset victory, Collins said, "Obviously, I played against Iga so many times. When you play that many close matches and also play your best tennis and lose, you learn a lot."

Swiatek falls to 27-9 with zero titles. Her title drought has now gone a full year, as she has not won a tournament since last year's French Open. Collins is now 9-5 and will face the winner of Elina Svitolina and Hailey Baptiste in the fourth round on Monday, May 12.

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