Iga Swiatek has played down the significance of her previous success at the Italian Open by describing her latest campaign as starting from scratch.
The world No.2 returned to action at the Foro Italico on Thursday with a 6-1, 6-0, thrashing of home player Elisabetta Cocciaretto. She has now won 21 out of 23 matches played at the WTA 1000 event, claiming the title in 2021, 2022 and 2024. Swiatek has won 18 completed matches in a row in straight sets, which is a new Open Era record for Rome.
Given her success, many expect the Pole to have high expectations for this year’s draw. However, Swiatek is taking a more grounded approach to her chances.
“I’m using the experience I gained over the years, but every year is a different story,” she told The Tennis Channel.
“You’ve got to kind of start from the beginning. I’m happy with my start today.”
Swiatek is chasing after her first title of the season. Since winning last year’s French Open, she hasn’t reached another final. Earlier this month, she made it through to the semi-finals in Madrid before suffering one of her heaviest Tour-level defeats to Coco Gauff, winning just two out of 14 games.
“The first two days (after Madrid) I had off and I loved it because I needed that, especially after not having a lot of time to reset after Stuttgart,” she said.
“After I lost, I immediately went to rest mode and I was really chilled.
“Then we (Swiatek and her team) came here, got two really solid days of practice, another day off and then a last practice yesterday to just work on the stuff before the match.”
Now feeling refreshed again, the 23-year-old says her focus is on her form and not her statistics. She is more than 4000 points behind Aryna Sabalenka in the race to No.1. Her win-loss record for 2025 currently stands at 27-8.
“The results and rankings. On court, I don’t think about that,” she said.
“It’s a new year, it’s a different story. Everybody is at different stages of their lives, different mindsets, sometimes different challenges.
“I’m just trying not to compare and just to create a new story rather than repeating what happened before.”
The next chapter in Swiatek’s Rome story will be a third round meeting with Danielle Collins later this week. 29th seed Collins defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 6-3.
