Svitolina, Rybakina dominate as quarterfinal clash of past Rome champions awaits

A battle of two past Rome champions now awaits in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Internazionali BNL d'Italia. World No. 2 and 2023 winner Elena Rybakina will face 2017 and 2018 champion Elina Svitolina on Wednesday following their dominant fourth-round wins Monday. 

Rome: Scores | Draws | Order of play

Both players put on masterclass performances, but Rybakina was nearly flawless in her 6-0, 6-2 win over Karolina Pliskova. The Kazakh needed just 58 minutes to close play on Campo Centrale, reaching her fourth quarterfinal of 2026, tied with Jessica Pegula for the most of any player this season on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz. Rybakina remains unbeaten in five matches vs. Pliskova.

"I'm very pleased with the way I played, and Karolina, it's nice to see her back after injuries," Rybakina said on court. "It's always difficult matches, especially with her serve."

From the start, it was evident Rybakina's strategy was to force Pliskova on the run, sending her shots to the corners. It worked like a charm as she finished 17 winners. Furthermore, part of Rybakina's first-set blank of Pliskova was the Czech's struggle on serve. After electing to receive in the first game, Pliskova, in both her first and second service games, double faulted on the penultimate points.

Rybakina converted all three break points in the set, and limited Pliskova to just two winners, one of which came on the very first point of the match. The bleeding continued into the second set as Rybakina similarly bolted to a 3-0 lead en route to a potential whitewash. 

Then, Pliskova had her moment, holding serve, lifting her racquet in the air and earning a deserved applause from the crowd. Pliskova, too, is a past champion back in 2019, but this year the circumstances were different after coming from injury. And though Pliskova got the break back, courtesy of a Rybakina double fault, the World No. 2 won the last four games to return to Rome's final eight.

Previewing Rybakina vs. Svitolina: Most recently, Rybakina defeated Svitolina in straight sets in the Indian Wells semifinals a couple months ago. The two are no strangers to each other as they've played seven times before, and even practiced together in Rome this tournament as well.  

Svitolina has won two of her three head-to-head meetings on clay against Rybakina at WTA level, most recently in Madrid's third round last year. However, Rybakina is 4-3 overall and leads the tour in main-draw wins. 

"We know each other well," Rybakina said. "I will try to do my best. I'll try to serve well, stay aggressive as always, recover and hopefully it's going to go my way."

Svitolina advances to sixth Rome quarterfinal

The two-time Rome champion is back into the elite eight for the sixth time in her career. The veteran experience proved too much to handle for the WTA 1000 debutant Nikola Bartunkova, who bows out of the Italian capital with a memorable run to the Round of 16. 

After falling behind on an early break at 2-1, Svitolina went on a tear by winning five straight games to end the first set in a half hour. Early, Bartunkova often missed some shots long paired with a few double faults that ultimately caused her to switch racquets as Svitolina led 3-2, 0-15. Later that same game, The Czech gifted Svitolina a break with another double fault.

Still, it was the stellar ground stroke game by Svitolina that paid dividends. From the center of the baseline or even a few feet behind it, Svitolina managed to hit her spots in the corners that led several of her winners. 

By the numbers, here are key areas that factored into the result:

First serves: Bartunkova struggled frequently on her serve, landing just under 49% of her first serves. On those points, she was slightly less effective, winning just 46% of those points. As for Svitolina, she converted 71% of first serves, winning a more efficient 64% of those points. 

Break points: In total, there were 11-of-18 break points converted, but Svitolina's sweep of Bartunkova's serve in the second set was the icing on the cake on a strong return outing. In fairness, Bartunkova was strong on the return, but when Svitolina held after saving two break points to take a 4-3 lead, it seemed it was going to be a given that Svitolina would break Bartunkova. 

Winners to unforced errors: The Ukrainian will leave Monday pleased with 19 winners to her 14 unforced errors, while Bartunkova notched 17 winners of her own, but was overshadowed by her 25 unforced errors.