Iga Swiatek’s slide continues with Italian Open upset loss

No. 2-ranked Iga Swiatek has been struggling this season, and that trend continued on Saturday against American Danielle Collins.

Swiatek lost 6-1, 7-5 to Collins in the third round of the Italian Open, a tournament she went into as the defending champion. The Polish superstar has now lost nine times in 2025, which is undoubtedly considered a lot for the five-time Grand Slam champion. She’s yet to win a title this year as well.

Collins had lost seven of eight meetings with Swiatek before Saturday’s encounter, and she explained after the victory how those defeats helped her come out on top this time around:

After losing to Iga Swiatek so many times, you obviously learn from those experiences, matchups,” Collins said. “Even though the last couple times we’ve played she’s beaten me, I’ve played some of my best tennis in those matches.

“So that gave me confidence. Then just learning from those situations, executing my game style and being a little bit more accurate than the times before.”

It wasn’t a pretty day for Swiatek. She made 22 unforced errors. Swiatek had won this event in three of the last four years as well. Her nine losses in ’25 match all 2024 already. She’s also struggled on clay courts leading up to the French Open later this month, which isn’t a great sign in her pursuit of a title. However, Swiatek has won the tournament four times in her career.

With this latest defeat, Swiatek is expected to drop to No. 4 in the latest WTA rankings, which are set to be released on Monday, May 12. She hasn’t won a title since last year’s French Open. Needless to say, Iga Swiatek isn’t in the best form at the moment, but she will be motivated to run through the Roland Garros field and make a run at another Major.