By Martyn Herman; Reuters.
Top seed Elena Rybakina came within two points of being sliced out of the Queen’s Club Championships by defending champion Tatjana Maria but switched on the power to reach the quarter-finals with a 6-7(4) 7-5 6-0 victory on Friday.
The Kazakh will be back on court later for her quarter-final against Britain’s Katie Boulter as tournament organisers play catch-up after persistent rain washed out play on Thursday to leave a backlog of matches.
Boulter beat Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian 6-1 6-3.
Britain’s Emma Raducanu delighted the home crowd at the prestigious London club as she beat Romania’s seventh seed Sorana Cirstea 6-4 6-2 to also reach the quarter-finals.
She will face Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova, a lucky loser from qualifying, later on Friday after she beat British wildcard Harriet Dart 5-7 6-1 7-5. Donna Vekic, another lucky loser, beat Czech Marie Bouzkova 7-6(9) 6-3.
Rybakina lost to veteran unorthodox Maria at Queen’s last year and was again baffled at times by the unique style of the 38-year-old German who hits every ground stroke with under-spin.
But she eventually solved the puzzle.
“I was battling with myself but I found the way and found the rhythm,” former Wimbledon champion Rybakina said on court.
Her level fluctuated wildly in the opening set as she began strongly, then fell 5-3 behind, saved set points as she hit back to force a tiebreak before eventually succumbing.
Qualifier Maria had voiced her frustration earlier in the week at not being handed a wildcard despite winning the title last year, and looked determined to make a point as she continued to torment Rybakina in the second set with her undercut strokes skimming low on the lush turf and drawing errors.
Fans expecting the usual power rallies from the baseline were entranced as Maria went about her business in her unique way, chopping and chipping, and were clearly just happy to be watching tennis after this week’s weather interruptions.
They even gave Maria a round of applause for changing her shoe midway through the second set after she snapped a lace.
Rybakina leaked errors and at 4-5 0-30 in the second set she seemed set for a repeat of her defeat by the German last year. But she found her range in the nick of time.
She held serve, though, and then reeled off eight successive games for the win.
The first quarter-final under way was an all-American clash between second seed Amanda Anisimova and teenager Iva Jovic.