Just days after claims of sexism headlined the women’s tournament at the Madrid Open, this week’s Italian Open earned its own share of criticism.
The chaos in Rome culminated with the women’s singles final late on Saturday night. The match started at 11 p.m. following rain delays and two men’s semifinals that ended up headlining the night.
Shortly after midnight, Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan won the women’s title when Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina retired due to a left thigh injury. But confusion ensued during the awards presentation, when event organizers announced the winner before the runner-up (the opposite of protocol) and Rybakina had to ask for her own trophy.
Former Australian pro Rennae Stubbs called it the “worst trophy presentation” she had ever seen.
Officially the worst trophy presentation i have ever seen, In my life!!!! Honesty i need to take a Xanax after these last three weeks!!! What the hell is happening!???
— Rennae Stubbs 🟦👍🏼 (@rennaestubbs) May 20, 2023
If anyone was surprised at the treatment of the women’s event, they shouldn’t have been. After all, the women’s prize pool at this year’s Italian Open was less than half of the men’s ($3.9 million vs. $8.5 million).
Rybakina walked away with $564,000 for winning the women’s title, while Daniil Medvedev earned nearly $1.2 million for his victory on Sunday. Even men’s runner-up Holger Rune earned more for his loss ($627,000) than Rybakina did for her victory.
Italian Open organizers say they intend to begin paying men and women equal prize money — but not until 2025.
Iga Swiatek has extended her winning streak to 27 matches, downing No. 8 Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 6-1 Saturday to reach the Italian Open final.
The World No. 1 is now tied with Serena Williams for the fourth-longest winning streak of the century, with the American registering 27 consecutive wins between the 2014 WTA Finals and Madrid in 2015.
Winning 40 of her last 41 sets, Swiatek has dropped just 17 games to reach the final in Rome as part of a historically dominant start to the season.
Mamma mia!! 😮@iga_swiatek | #IBI22 pic.twitter.com/Q9tMryt3Wt
— wta (@WTA) May 14, 2022
“At these tournaments where we play day after day, we don’t really get time to celebrate,” Swiatek said of her achievement. “Right after we finish the previous match, we have to think about the next one. It’s pretty tough. But I know that after I’m going to be really proud of myself. For sure I’m going to have time to think about what I did.”
The Internazionali BNL d’Italia title match marks Swiatek’s fifth consecutive final, with the 20-year-old looking for her eighth career championship.
Swiatek will play the winner of the semifinal between Ons Jabeurand Daria Kasatkina on Sunday in the Italian Open final.
Iga Swiatek continues to roll, taking down Bianca Andreescu 7-6 (7-2), 6-0 in a 104-minute match to advance to the Italian Open semifinals.
XXVI wins 🏛
— wta (@WTA) May 13, 2022
The remarkable run continues as @iga_swiatek fends off Andreescu 7-6(2), 6-0!#IBI22 pic.twitter.com/NiWdcM26AK
With her 26th straight match win, the 20-year-old has now equaled the fifth longest streak this century, matching a streak by Victoria Azarenka. Only Venus Williams, Serena Williams and Justine Henin have won more matches in a row since 2000.
Venus Williams currently holds the record for longest winning streak this century, having rattled off 35 matches in a row starting at Wimbledon in 2000.
“Being in that kind of group is like a dream come true for me,” Swiatek told the WTA website. “I wouldn’t think of that when I was younger. I’m pretty happy that I could do that because consistency was the thing I really wanted to work on last year. This year I feel like it clicked.”
During her winning streak, Swiatek has dropped just one set. She has won 38 of her past 39 dating back to the fourth round of Indian Wells. She dropped a set against Liudmila Samsonova at Stuttgart in the semifinals. Of her 13 tour-level quarterfinals, Swiatek has won 12 and hasn’t lost in a quarterfinal since Roland Garros in 2021.
Andreescu, who returned to action at Stuttgart following a mental health break, didn’t go quietly. Going from up 3-2 to down 5-3 in the opening set, she rallied back to force a tiebreak.
“I wasn’t really expecting anything because I didn’t actually know how she’s playing after the break,” said Swiatek. “I watched many of her matches before she did that break. Right now I didn’t know if her tennis is the same or it changed a little bit.
“But I knew that physically I can play longer rallies and also play longer matches. So basically I was ready for that. Also, I knew that she’s going to change rhythm. She did that, which was pretty tricky. Just knowing that, I was just ready for it. Tactically I knew it about it, so I’m pretty happy that we prepared well.”
She’ll move on to face Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals. Sabalenka finally broke through against Amanda Anisimova in the quarterfinals with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win. She had gone three years and four matches without winning against Anisimova.
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek mounted a comeback to take down former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-1 to earn her 25th straight match win.
She now holds the longest winning streak since Serena Williams rattled off 27 straight wins in 2015.
The 20-year-old Swiatek went down 0-3 in the opening set before rallying back from a double break. Azarenka managed to generate 11 break points.
“I didn’t start well, and everybody could see that,” Swiatek said. “I’m really happy with the way I reacted and how I improved in the first set. Also how different the second set looked to the first one because I could really reset and really change the way I played. That’s the most positive thing for me.”
The opening set took 79 minutes, as Azarenka gave Swiatek everything that she had. She wiped out four set points with Swiatek serving at 5-3 and broke to regain the serve.
A 79-minute(!) opener 😅
— wta (@WTA) May 12, 2022
🇵🇱 @iga_swiatek grabs it from 0-3 down!#IBI22 pic.twitter.com/46VFJ1PDor
Throughout her 25-match win streak, Swiatek has won titles at Stuttgart, Indian Wells, Miami and Doha. She gained the No. 1 ranking in April following the retirement of Ash Barty.
Swiatek will face off against Bianca Andreescu in the quarterfinals after Andreescu defeated Petra Martic 6-4, 6-4. Andreescu is back into her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal in 14 months. She returned to action at Stuttgart last month after taking a mental health break.
Bianca Andreescu is on to the second round of the Italian Open after Emma Raducanu’s Italian Open debut came to an early end. The 19-year-old retired due to a back injury after falling behind 2-6, 1-2 against Andreescu.
🇨🇦 @Bandreescu_ moves on to Round 2 after Raducanu retires.
— wta (@WTA) May 10, 2022
Final score: 6-2, 2-1.#IBI22 pic.twitter.com/zwFiaJq0UG
Raducanu, who had a breakout win at the U.S. Open in 2021, has struggled with injuries this year, including blisters on her racket hand at the Australian Open and foot blisters at the Billie Jean King Cup.
The world No. 12 has been dealing with her back issue since the Madrid Open, in which she lost to Anhelina Kalinina in the Round of 16. Raducanu called on the physio multiple times and in the second set could be heard saying, “I can’t move.”
Andreescu had gone up a set and a break before Raducanu retired. She’s been on a roll since returning for the first time in seven months, having taken a break due to a knee injury and working on her mental health.
“It’s definitely been difficult but I’m slowly getting to my top form which I’m very pleased about,” Andreescu said after the match.
“I hope Emma’s injury or whatever she is dealing with isn’t so bad. She is an amazing player,” Andreescu continued. “I watched her in the U.S. Open finals, I expected it to be a tougher match, but obviously she’s dealing with something so hopefully she’s going to be OK. I’m just super happy with how I played.”
Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from this week’s Italian Open due to a left ankle injury, the tennis star announced Monday.
“Unfortunately I’m going to have to withdraw from Rome as the injury which I picked up last week in Madrid hasn’t healed yet,” Osaka said in a statement. “It’s an Achilles injury so I need to be careful especially in advance of Roland Garros.”
The French Open is scheduled to begin in less than two weeks.
“I love this city and always enjoy playing in front of the Italian fans so I will be sorry to miss them – but look forward to coming back next year,” Osaka continued.
Osaka had tweeted Sunday that “sometimes life doesn’t go as planned and you just gotta find joy in the unknown.” It’s unclear if she was referencing the injury.
Sometimes life doesn’t go as planned and you just gotta find joy in the unknown.
— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) May 8, 2022
The four-time Grand Slam champion sustained the injury in her opening round victory over Anastasia Potapova in Madrid. She then struggled to play with it, losing 6-3, 6-1 to Sara Sorribes Tormo in the second round.
Before that, Osaka made it all the way to the final at the Miami Open, where she lost to world No. 1 Iga Swiatek.
Nuria Parrizas-Diaz will take Osaka’s spot in the draw.
The second round of the Italian Open was full of action Wednesday, with two of the world’s best exiting early.
First, Serena Williams’ 1,000th tour-level match, and her return to the court, ended in a 7-6 (6), 7-5 loss to Nadia Podoroska.
Williams entered the match seeded eighth after having not played in nearly three months since the Australian Open. Williams got off to a slow start, coming back from being down a break twice in the opening set and saving the first three set points she faced in the tiebreaker before Podoroska converted her fourth.
In the second set, the 24-year-old Podoroska took a 5-2 lead. Williams fought back again to level the match at 5-5. But Podorosa went on to break Williams in the 12th game to seal her third career win over a top-10 player.
Williams will look to rebound and make history at Roland-Garros beginning May 30.
Meanwhile, world No. 3 Simona Halep had to retire in the second set against Angelique Kerber after going down with a lower leg injury. The Romanian later learned she tore her calf.
“Unfortunately an ultrasound has revealed that I have a tear in my left calf,” Halep said on Twitter. “I will get an MRI tomorrow to understand the injury in more detail, but at the moment we are unsure of recovery time.
Halep appeared to sustain the injury while returning an errant serve by Kerber at 6-3, 3-3. She tried to play the next point before stopping and requesting assistance to the bench.
Halep will now hope to recover in time to play the French Open and then defend her title at Wimbledon, which begins June 28.