The fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) qualified for the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships after defeating Magdalena Frech (Poland) by 2-1 (7:6, 3:6, 6:4) after 2:41 hours on the court. The Kazakhstani tennis player scored 13 aces and won 77% of the first serve points to win the match.
Elena Rybakina started hesitantly on the first set, saving a breakpoint already in the first game. Although the match was running equally until the 6th game, Magdalena Frech was the first to make a break and took a lead by 5:3, and served for the set at 5:4. However, the Kazakhstani tennis player survived after breaking the serve of her opponent and equalized to 5:5. Thus, the set entered into a tiebreak, which was won by Elena Rybakina after several turnovers.
Magdalena Frech started strongly the second set, leading by 3:0 and although Elena Rybakina returned the break for 3:2, the Polish player again broke to keep her lead for 4:2. This proved to be enough for her to win the set from her fourth setpoint.
Elena Rybakina used her strong serve in the third set, making 5 aces and winning 93% of her first serve points. Both players won their serve games, but the nerves of the Kazakhstani player was stronger and she broke in the 10th game to win by 6:4.
In the next round, Elena Rybakina will face Jasmine Paolini (Italy), who eliminated Maria Sakkari (Greece) after 2-0 (6:4, 6:2).
The 7th-seeded Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic) defeated the 12th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova (Russia) by 2-0 (6:2, 6:2), while Anna Kalinskaya (Russia) eliminated the 9th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) after 2-0 (6:4, 7:5).
