On May 3, world No. 4 Elena Rybakina faced world No. 2 Arina Sabalenka in the semi-finals in the Madrid Open. It was the first time the two played against each other on the clay court, where Rybakina was defeated in three sets, QazMonitor reports.
Sabalenka’s comeback: Coming to the Madrid semi-finals with an unbeaten record of 13 wins on the clay court, Rybakina defeated Sabalenka in the first set 6:1 in 25 minutes. But the defending champion of the tournament from Belarus managed to win the second set 5:7. In the decisive third set, Sabalenka won 6:7 in a tie-break. By winning the match (6:1, 5:7, 6:7), the Belarusian player reached the final, where she will meet with the top-seeded Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek.
Head to Head: It was the ninth game in the Rybakina-Sabalenka matchups, where Rybakina won three of the square-offs, two of them being in the finals of Indian Wells in 2023 and Brisbane this year.
Before the face-off with Sabalenka in the Madrid semi-finals, Rybakina defeated the Italian Lucia Bronzetti (6:4, 6:3), the Egyptian Mayar Sherif (6:1, 6:4), the Czech Sara Bejlek (6:1, 6:3) and compatriot Yulia Putintseva (4:6, 7:6, 7:5).
