Takeaways: Swiatek downs Pegula for season's first top-10 win and first semifinal

It has been an underwhelming season by Iga Swiatek’s standards. She briefly fell to No. 4 in the rankings last month, failed to advance beyond the quarterfinals of a WTA event outside team competitions and changed coaches three months into the season. But with Roland Garros approaching, she appears to be finding her form again.

On Wednesday, the fourth seed delivered one of her most impressive performances of the season on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, defeating No. 5 Jessica Pegula 6-1, 6-2 in one hour, seven minutes to advance to the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome. She will face either second seed Elena Rybakina or No. 7 seed Elina Svitolina next.

"For sure I'm really happy with the match," Swiatek told the media after her win. "From the beginning I felt like I can dictate. Tactically everything made sense as well. I was feeling the ball really well. I just used my chance and was pretty confident."

Here are some key takeaways from Swiatek’s victory:

No break points faced

Swiatek did not face a single break point on serve during the match. She landed 77.8% of her first serves and won 77.1% of first-serve points and 60% of second-serve points.

By comparison, Pegula landed 64.4% of her first serves, winning 62.1% of first-serve points and just 12.5% of second-serve points.

"Honestly, I feel on clay that there is not so much pressure on the serve because it's not so easy to get free points," the Pole responded when told about the stat in her post-match press conference. "I know I have a really great baseline game, so even if my serve is going to be kind of normal and not do a lot, I know it's still in my hands what to happen with the point. I don't think it's that much important. For sure, the placement is more important than the speed here because the ball will bounce pretty high anyway, even when you serve like 180. It's good to already, like, open up the court if you can with the serve."

First top-10 win of the season

The victory over the fifth-ranked Pegula marked Swiatek’s first win over a top-10 opponent this season. She had lost her previous six matches against top-10 players, including four in 2026, marking the longest such losing streak of her career.

Despite that run, Swiatek still owns one of the strongest records against elite opponents on tour. Since making her debut in 2019, she has recorded 54 wins over top-10 players, two more than current world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

Improves head-to-head against Pegula

Swiatek improved to 7-5 overall against Pegula and 2-0 against the American on clay.

Six of Swiatek’s seven wins over Pegula have come in straight sets, while three of Pegula’s five victories have also been in straight sets.

Adding to her Rome legacy

With the win, Swiatek improved to 25-3 in her career in Rome, which she has won on three occasions. In the Open Era, only Chris Evert, Conchita Martinez and Gabriela Sabatini reached 25 Rome wins in fewer matches, with each doing so in 27 matches.

Among players with at least 10 matches played in Rome during the Open Era, only Chris Evert owns a better winning percentage than Swiatek. Evert posted a 92.3% win rate, while Swiatek now stands at 89.3%.

"The goal was to play as many matches as possible," she said of her week in Rome. "I'm really happy that I just have opportunity to do that because I felt like I didn't play a lot at all, comparing to last season. I'm happy that I can spend some time on the court and play really solid matches against the best girls. For sure it's giving me confidence because you can practice as much as possible, but if you don't test it out on the court, play matches and face pressure or something, you're going to still feel the little bit rusty when it comes. I'll play hopefully two more here."

Rybakina or Svitolina next

Swiatek holds a 6-6 career record against Rybakina and a 4-2 edge against Svitolina.

However, she lost her most recent meeting against both players - falling to Rybakina in the Australian Open quarterfinals in January and to Svitolina in the Indian Wells quarterfinals in March.