Sep 3, 2024; Flushing, NY, USA; Iga Swiatek of Poland looks dejected as she leaves Arthur Ashe Stadium after losing to Jessica Pegula of the United States on day nine of the U.S. Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

tennis

Day of Upsets at the 2025 Italian Open as Iga Swiatek, Taylor Fritz and Madison Keys Bow Out

The seeds keep tumbling in Rome!

The Internazionali BNL d’Italia has a rich history of being a giant killer tournament. On Saturday, women’s No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek relinquished her title after falling prey to the feisty Danielle Collins. A groundstroke masterclass from the American, paired with a lacklustre display from the four-time Roland Garros winner, meant that Swiatek was shown the exit doors in the Round of 32.

Men’s 4th seed Taylor Fritz also faced defeat on Grand Stand Arena. He lost to fellow American Marcos Giron, who came into this encounter as a complete minnow. Several other seeded players like Andrey Rublev, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Madison Keys were also dumped out of the draw. Here’s what unfolded at the Foro Italico:

Swiatek Suffers Straight Sets Thrashing, Loses No. 2 Ranking

Danielle Collins caused the upset of the tournament by taking out defending champion Swiatek on Saturday. The Polish sensation, who won three out of the last four Italian Open competitions, failed to impress during a 1-6 5-7 thrashing. Swiatek had won 21 out of her last 22 matches in Rome, trailing only Chris Evert’s unthinkable 92.3% winning ratio at the Italian capital.

Right from the onset, Collins struck fierce groundstrokes to leave Swiatek unsettled. The reigning Roland Garros trophy-holder attempted to change direction and keep her American opponent on the run, but ended up gifting mid-court putaways on multiple occasions. Collins hit 32 winners and 15 unforced errors en route to her second win over the Pole in nine meetings.

“Obviously, I played Iga so many times,” Collins stated after her win. “When you play that many close matches and also play your best tennis and lose, you learn a lot.” This loss has serious repercussions for Swiatek – after more than three years ranked in the Top-2 – she will fall to No. 4 or No. 5 when the new rankings are released. Provided Paolini wins the title in Roma Italia, she will rue her inability to save break points vs Collins.

Fritz, Rublev, Keys Shown the Exit Door in Rome

Peyton Stearns upsets Madison Keys in an all-American clash 🤯🇺🇸#IBI25 pic.twitter.com/m15r0jAiC9
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 10, 2025

No. 4 seed Taylor Fritz bowed out of the Italian Open after losing two tiebreakers to Marcos Giron. The 31-year-old proved all the pre-match odds wrong by producing a masterclass against the higher ranked American. Considering Giron’s clay court game isn’t highly rated, he had to pull out all the weapons in his armoury on Saturday. He fought back from 2-4 down in Set-2 to close out the match in straight sets, and confirm a match-up against Hubert Hurkacz in Round-3.

Meanwhile, Andrey Rublev managed merely 54% first serves in, en route to a three set loss against Fabian Marozsan of Hungary. The 25-year-old, who outplayed rising star Joao Fonseca in Round-1, neutralised Rublev’s strong forehand for a 7-5 4-6 6-3 win. Madison Keys also endured a narrow loss to unseeded Peyton Stearns, who is playing much better tennis than her ranking currently suggests. She saved her best for last and clinched a 2-6 6-2 7-6(3) victory.

Other seeds to exit – Ons Jabeur (No. 27), Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (No. 25), Frances Tiafoe (No. 15) and Ben Shelton (No. 12).

Andrey Rublev

Aryna Sabalenka

ATP

Ben Shelton

Iga Swiatek

Italian Open

Madison Keys

Ons Jabeur

Rome Masters

Taylor Fritz

Tennis

WTA

Sankalp Harikrishnan

A passionate sports fan through and through, I am currently pursuing my MA in Global Sports Journalism. I specialise in tennis and football writing at The Playoffs News, and I have prior experience working at EssentiallySports and Sportskeeda. Born and raised in Bengaluru, India, sport was my safe space right from my childhood. After trying my hand at multiple sports and representing my educational institutions in cricket, badminton and table tennis, I found sports media to be my calling.