Wimbledon 2022 champion Elena Rybakina qualified for the semi-finals of the Australian Open women’s tennis championship. In the first quarter-final of the Melbourne tournament, the representative of Kazakhstan won by 2-0 (6:2, 6:4) over Latvian Jelena Ostapenko.
The 23-year-old Elena Rybakina played the match at a very high level and even a prolonged stoppage of play in the middle of the first set due to rain could not stop her momentum.
Russian-born Elena Rybakina won five of the first six games to take a 5:1 lead. She made excellent use of the first serve, winning 12 of 13 games in the first set on first serve.
In the second set, Jelena Ostapenko, a former Roland Garros champion, showed more resilience. The Latvian even led with a break at 0:2 in the game, but was unable to hold it after Elena Rybakina’s eight aces in the second set.
The Wimbledon 2022 champion won four games in a row to lead 4:2 and by the end, she closed the match without much difficulty after a total of one hour and 21 minutes of play.
In the semifinals, Elena Rybakina will play the winner of the match between third-seeded American Jessica Pegula and two-time tournament champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.
