Swiatek’s shock exit at the WTA Finals as Anisimova continues her late-season surge.
Iga Swiatek’s 2025 season ended with a sting in Riyadh as the six-time Grand Slam champion suffered a second straight defeat at the WTA Finals, losing 7-6(3), 4-6, 2-6 to Amanda Anisimova in her final group match. The result not only sent the American through to the semifinals alongside Elena Rybakina but also handed Swiatek several unwanted personal milestones. This includes back-to-back defeats after winning the opening set and consecutive top-level losses for the first time since 2021. After the match, the usually composed world No. 2 admitted frustration, even saying that “maybe I won too much in the last years, and this is Karma.”
Swiatek’s campaign began with a commanding 6-1, 6-2 win over Madison Keys, but everything unraveled quickly. A 6-3, 1-6, 0-6 collapse against Rybakina marked her heaviest defeat of the season. Plus, a loss to Anisimova, who had already beaten her at both the US Open and in Riyadh, completed a painful double.
Speaking to Canal+Sport, Swiatek gave an honest assessment of her performance. “Matches like this, a loss like this, it just hurts,” she said. “I thought I played well, I was focused the entire time, I had a good attitude, and I didn’t hesitate. There’s really nothing I regret, except maybe one decision when she broke me in the third set. The truth is, I did everything I could.”
But the deeper frustration emerged moments later. “I felt good mentally, physically, and tennis-wise also it was nice looking at the conditions and everything. So I don’t really get why I couldn’t go out of the group. Maybe I won too much in the last years and this is Karma. It’s really hard for me to say.”
Her numbers underline the shift. Swiatek is 9-8 against top-10 players this year, down from 11-5 in 2024, 13-6 in 2023, and a dominant 15-2 in 2022. Even more telling is that she has lost her most recent matchup against seven of the current top eight players in the rankings.
The field has caught up, and in 2025, the margins have been razor-thin. As Sabalenka beat her at Roland Garros and Cincinnati, Anisimova has now defeated her twice at significant events, and Rybakina continues to be a tough matchup. Let’s just hope that the 2023 WTA Finals champion is able to bounce back and retrieve another win in 2026.
Mandatory Image Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images
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