Iga Swiatek continues to develop a concerning issue after her defeat to Elina Svitolina in the Italian Open semifinals.
Swiatek thrashed both Jessica Pegula and Naomi Osaka in her two previous matches, losing just six games in two matches.
Many thought that the six-time Grand Slam champion would go on to win the Italian Open title, before Swiatek lost to Svitolina in three sets.
Svitolina will now play Coco Gauff in the final, while Swiatek has a glaring issue that could damage her chances of winning Roland Garros.
Iga Swiatek has a troubling issue against top 10 players
Swiatek won her first top 10 match of the year against Pegula, and appeared to really have found her feet again under new coach Francisco Roig.
Clay has been Swiatek’s most successful surface, and she was seen by many as the favorite for the Italian Open title, but Svitolina has exposed a recurring issue for the four-time Roland Garros champion.
In her first 21 matches against top 10 players on clay, Swiatek only lost five matches and had a 76.2% winning record.
However, since then Swiatek has only won two of her last five matches on clay against top 10 players, with just a 28.6% winning record.
This has been an issue for Swiatek on all surfaces, but it is even more alarming on clay given her previous dominance.
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Swiatek now has a real issue ahead of Roland Garros, as she is almost guaranteed to have to play against top 10 players if she wants to win a fifth title in Paris.
Two of the players Swiatek will want to be avoiding in particular are Gauff and Mirra Andreeva, having lost her last seven combined matches against the young talents.
Swiatek already knows that she will not need to play Gauff unless both players reach the Roland Garros final, as the third and fourth seeds.
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The player Swiatek will most likely want to avoid is actually not in the top 10, but Jelena Ostapenko has dominated their head-to-head so far.
Ostapenko has won all six matches against Swiatek, including their most recent on indoor clay in Stuttgart last year.
The Latvian recently dropped down the rankings, with Ostapenko set not to be seeded for Roland Garros this year.
This would have meant that Swiatek could have faced Ostapenko from the very first round in Paris.
However, after Ostapenko made a run to the Italian Open quarterfinals, she has confirmed that she will be seeded for Roland Garros.
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Swiatek could still play Ostapenko from the third round at Roland Garros, but it significantly reduces the possibility of that happening.
There is just over a week until the start of Roland Garros this year, with the main draw getting underway on Sunday, May 24.
