America’s Peyton Stearns has activated her ‘Giant-Killing’ mode in Rome! She defeated the 2025 AO champion, Madison Keys, in the R32 of the Italian Open, and then after that, she took down the former world number one, Naomi Osaka, in a hard-fought battle in the R16. Despite having some health issues during the match, she kept on fighting to see through this grueling 2-hour 41-minute encounter against the Japanese. After sealing her victory, she was seen throwing up onto the floor behind the umpire’s chair. Despite all these struggles, how did she end up on the winning side? “I’m the kind of player that I won’t quit, you know..You’re going to have to wheel me off the court in order for me to quit,” said the 23-year-old tennis star. Next up for her is another big challenge! She’ll face the in-form Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in the QF. Can Stearns keep her winning streak intact, or will the experience of Svitolina outshine the flair of the youngster?
Elina Svitolina vs Peyton Stearns: Preview
The 30-year-old Ukrainian tennis star, Elina Svitolina, is in red-hot form this season, especially on clay. If we take a look at her performances this season, she reached the QF at the AO and the Indian Wells, before making her title-winning run at the Open de Rouen. She reached the SF in Madrid, but over there she went down to the eventual champion, Aryna Sabalenka, in straight sets. However, she came back strongly in Rome, and with his incredible 6-4,6-2 win over Danielle Collins, she has now reached the QF of the Italian Open for the fifth time in her career.
Interesting Fact: Elina Svitolina has now also become the fourth woman to reach the QF in Madrid and Rome in the same season after turning 30, along with Serena Williams, Li Na, and Maria Sharapova.
Tennis – French Open – Roland Garros, Paris, France – June 5, 2021 Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in action during her third round match against Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcíkova REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
On the other hand, Peyton Stearns defeated Naomi Osaka by 6-4,3-6,7-6(4) in her previous match. The third set took almost 82 minutes before finally coming to a conclusion in this epic battle. Stearns looked extremely tired after this match, but can she overcome that tiredness and enter this match with a fresh mind? Time will tell! This is her 12th tournament of the season, but she has reached the QF for the very first time this season. With her recent win over Osaka, Stearns has already become the first player in the Open Era to win back-to-back third-set tiebreaks in Rome.
Svitolina vs Stearns: Head-to-Head
Elina Svitolina and Peyton Stearns have never met each other before on the Tour. Hence, their head-to-head record is currently at 0-0! Who has the real edge in this contest in terms of stats and other factors?
Prediction: Svitolina will win this match in three sets
Elina Svitolina (14) has won the Italian Open twice (2017,2018) in her career so far, but on the other hand, it’s Peyton Stearns’ (42) first appearance in this tournament. Other than that, Svitolina has also won more matches on clay than any woman this year. If we go by the numbers, the Ukrainian has a win-loss record of 25-7 this season, including 14-1 on clay. Whereas, it’s 15-11 for the American in 2025, 7-2 on clay. Looking at these stats, although Svitolina may look to be a clear favorite in this contest, I’d still expect Stearns to come up with a strong fight in this match. Especially after looking at her incredible resilience in both of her previous matches.
Stearns is known for her powerful, aggressive playing style, particularly on clay courts. She has a strong baseline game with a heavy forehand, and she also loves coming to the net to finish off the points. Peyton Stearns has this knack for winning close matches, especially in tiebreakers, and we’ve seen that in her previous two matches already. She is also described as a ‘free-swinging’ player. But her biggest weakness has been a high number of double-fault counts. Stearns has hit 50 aces this season, but she has already committed 70 double faults.
Conversely, Elina Svitolina’s game is a blend of defensive baseline play along with moments of aggressive, high-risk shots. She is known for her consistent, moderately powerful groundstrokes, especially her backhand and a second serve that can be exploited. Svitolina can switch from defense to offense pretty quickly, but at times she has struggled a bit against the aggressive players. However, considering her performance against the super-aggressive ‘Danimal’ in the previous match, I’m expecting the Ukrainian to sail through this challenge with flying colors in her next match.
The post Italian Open 2025: Elina Svitolina vs Peyton Stearns; Preview, Head-to-Head, and Prediction appeared first on EssentiallySports.
