The 10 women to beat Iga Swiatek on clay before 2025: ft. Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina
Iga Swiatek has cemented her place as one of the greatest-ever WTA clay-courters in recent years, dominating on the dirt at points.
The world No 2 has an incredible record on clay and, with the 2025 clay season underway, we look at the only 10 women who can currently claim to have beaten her in a WTA-level clay match.
Polona Hercog – Lugano 2019
The Ladies Open Lugano was the first tour-level event Swiatek ever qualified for directly, and also proved to be the event where she made her maiden WTA final.
Swiatek impressed on her way to the final but was ultimately beaten 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 by Polona Hercog, who remains one of just three women to beat the Pole in a final.
Karolina Muchova – Prague 2019
Swiatek has won four straight meetings against Muchova – including their famous 2023 French Open final – though it was the Czech star who prevailed in their first match.
Competing on home turf, Muchova beat the future world No 1 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of the Prague Open back in April 2019.
Simona Halep – Roland Garros 2019
The Pole’s French Open debut came back in 2019 and she impressed on her way to the fourth round, the first time she had made the second week of a Slam.
Third seed and defending champion Halep stood in her way and ultimately sealed an emphatic 6-1, 6-0 win, though Swiatek would get revenge on her way to the title the following year.
Arantxa Rus – Rome 2020
Swiatek’s last loss before becoming a Grand Slam champion came at the Italian Open in 2020, where she fell in the round of 64 to Dutch qualifier Rus.
World No 71 Rus would prevail 7-6(5), 6-3 in Rome, though Swiatek would not drop a set on her way to the Roland Garros title just a few weeks later.
Ashleigh Barty – Madrid 2021
One of the trickiest opponents Swiatek has faced was fellow former world No 1 Barty, who won both of her encounters against the Pole.
Three-time major winner Barty claimed the first of her two wins over Swiatek at the Madrid Open in 2021, prevailing 7-5, 6-4 in their round of 16 clash.
Maria Sakkari – Roland Garros 2021
The last time Swiatek lost at Roland Garros was back in 2021, when, as the defending champion, she was beaten by Sakkari in the last eight.
Sakkari defeated the Pole 6-4, 6-4 and would go on to win her first three meetings against Swiatek, though now trails 3-4 in their head-to-head.
Caroline Garcia – Warsaw 2022
After losing to Sakkari at the 2021 French Open, it would be over a year until Swiatek tasted defeat on the dirt once again.
That loss came on home soil to Garcia, who kickstarted a stunning surge over the second half of 2022 with a 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 quarter-final win at the Poland Open – going on to take the title.
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Aryna Sabalanka – Madrid 2023
Swiatek has won five of her six clay-court meetings against reigning world No 1 Sabalenka, arguably the leading rival of her career so far.
Sabalenka’s sole win on the dirt over Swiatek was a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 triumph in the 2023 Madrid Open final, though the Pole would edge a nailbiting final between the two in the Spanish capital a year later.
Elena Rybakina – Rome 2023, Stuttgart 2024
Former world No 3 Rybakina currently holds a unique place in tennis history as the only woman to have recorded multiple clay-court wins over Swiatek.
The first of those two wins came via retirement, with the score 2-6, 7-6(3), 2-2 in the Kazakh’s favour when Swiatek was forced to retire injured in their 2023 Italian Open quarter-final.
However, Rybakina would later beat Swiatek outright with a thrilling 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory in the last four of the Stuttgart Open in 2024.
Zheng Qinwen – Paris Olympics 2024
Swiatek’s most recent defeat on the dirt came at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games last summer, where she was stunned in the last four by eventual gold medallist Qinwen.
The Chinese beat Swiatek 6-2, 7-5 in one of the biggest upsets of 2024, though the Pole bounced back to seal a bronze medal.
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