Elina Svitolina sends Elena Rybakina crashing out in straight sets Madrid Open win

Elina Svitolina has taken out Elena Rybakina to book her spot in the Last 16 of the 2025 Madrid Open seeing off the 10th seed 6-3, 6-4 to continue her superb form.

Svitolina no doubt would've been buoyed by winning Rouen last week in front of husband Gael Monfils and their daughter Skai and has carried that clay court form on.

A big chance awaits the winner of her next tie as Svitolina faces a resurgent Maria Sakkari who wiped the floor with Jasmine Paolini today and is having her best run in many months this week.

It is a first win over Rybakina since 2021 with the Kazakh who saw off Bianca Andreescu impressively last round faltering on the unforced error count with 48 in total compared to 24 from Svitolina telling the story.

This was despite having more winners with 24 to 10 of the Ukrainian but it was too many missed opportunities and the stats told the story.

Svitolina is into the Last 16 for the first time in Madrid but she has bonafide confidentials in these events winning Rome two years on the spin in 2017 and 2018. It has to be said too that Svitolina perhaps is the best version of herself right now after becoming a mother.

She is 9-0 during the clay court swing dating back to Billie Jean King Cup and Rouen and two years ago, she also had similar runs when she won Strasbourg so a lucky omen. Rybakina now shifts down to World No.12 after failing to defend her points and it is more hard yards for her.

While she is showing that the form is still there, it is not regular enough to climb out of the ranking abyss and she will likely continue to fall without a title or run to her name in a Grand Slam. Svitolina on the other hand keeps on rolling.