Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) advanced to the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 Rome Open tennis tournament for the first time in her career after eliminating Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic) by 2-0 (6:3, 6:3). Kazakhstani tennis player expects as her next opponent between world No 1 Iga Swiatek (Poland) or Donna Vekic (Croatia).
Iga Swiatek is the champion of the last two editions of the tournament in the Italian capital. She was supposed to play versus Donna Vekic yesterday in the last game of the program, but it was canceled due to rain. For the same reason, the match between Paula Badosa and Karolína Muchova was not played.
Elena Rybakina had a rather difficult start to the clay season, despite she made a fantastic hard court performance, winning the WTA 1000 Indian Wells Open and being the runner-up at the WTA 1000 Miami Open. She withdrew from the competition in Stuttgart due to a back problem and crashed out in the first round in Madrid, eliminated by Anna Kalinskaya.
“Arriving here, I didn’t expect anything, because I have an allergy since the tournament in Rome”, said Elena Rybakina, surprised by her victory, apparently referring to some old problems with the judges on the court. “But in the end, I am happy with the victory and the opportunity to accumulate more matches”, added she.
Meeting Marketa Vondrousova for the second time in her career, she finally managed to defeat her after hitting 28 winners in her game and making 5 breaks on the Czech’s serve. The match lasted an hour and 14 minutes, and the second set started with a surprising break by the Czech player. But the 7th-seeded Elena Rybakina quickly returned the breaks twice and went comfortably ahead in the result.
“I think Swiatek has changed her game significantly in recent months. She is more physical now, and she uses time much better in the matches themselves. She manages to control it. I think Iga is already a different opponent, but on hard courts, clay or grass, the game changes too. So we’ll see. But let’s not rush it, and I don’t want Donna Vekic to feel underestimated by me. But whoever I play, I’ll use the match as a practice”, said also Elena Rybakina.
Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) qualified for the third time in her career in the quarterfinals in Rome, after defeating Daria Kasatkina (Russia) by 2-1 (6:4, 4:6, 6:0). Jelena Ostapenko, a former Roland Garros champion, reached this stage in 2018 and in 2021. And after in the previous round, she eliminated a contestant from the top 15 – Barbora Krejcikova, she now added another victory versus the top 10 player – Daria Kasatkina.
The match lasted 1 hour and 59 minutes, and this is the Latvian’s first victory over Daria Kasatkina on clay and the fifth in their seven matches so far. In the first set, she showed a serious character, twice having to return to the match after an admitted break – at 0:1 and at 3:4. But then he took the next three games in a row and won the first set. And the beginning of the second was no less exciting. In his first game, the game went through five draws, after which Daria Kasatkina imposed her will and eventually leveled the sets. However, the Russian then collapsed and Jelena Ostapenko won 6-0 in 28 minutes.
The 11th-seeded Veronika Kudermetova (Russia) eliminated Marie Bouzkova (Czech Republic) by 2-0 (6:2, 6:2) in a match of the same stage, and the 12th-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia (brazil) overcame Camila Osorio by 2-0 (6:3, 6:3).
Earlier in the day, Madison Keys (USA) lost to Anhelina Kalinina (Ukraine) by 1-2 (6:2, 2:6, 4:6), while Qinwen Zheng won the all-Chinese clash versus Xiyu Wang by 2-1 (6:4, 3:6, 6:1).
