Staff Reporter.
Elena Rybakina battled back from 2-5 down in the deciding set and saved two match points to overcome Yulia Putintseva 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 and reach the Madrid Open semifinals on Wednesday.
Fourth seed Rybakina produced key serves to swat away two match points at 2-5 and broke Putintseva as she was serving for the victory at 5-3.
In the first all-Kazakh quarterfinal at this level on the women’s tour, Rybakina lacked efficiency on her break point opportunities, converting just three of 12 chances, and struggled to deal with Putintseva’s deft drop shots.
But a late-match collapse from Putintseva, who smashed her racquet and left it on court after the match – helped Rybakina advance to her sixth semifinal of the season, where she will face defending champion Aryna Sabalenka or 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva.
Rybakina owns a tour-leading 30 wins in 2024, and has been successful in her last 12 deciding sets this season.
She will play either defending champion Aryna Sabalenka or 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva in her sixth semi-final of the season.
“It was a really tough match,” said Rybakina, who has now won 16 matches in a row on clay.
“I was hoping I would start much better but I was having a lot of unforced errors, at 5-2 I already left all the emotions and frustrations and I kept on playing and the momentum shifted. Yulia started to a bit more angry and some mistakes helped me and I kept on playing.”
Compiled by Lehlohonolo Lehana.