Ninth-seeded Elena Rybakina delivered 11 aces and dominated the match while recording a 6-1, 6-4 victory over top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka on Friday afternoon to reach the semifinals of the Cincinnati Open.
Rybakina needed just 74 minutes to dispatch of defending champion Sabalenka.
Rybakina will next face third-seeded Iga Swiatek, who notched a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya.
Swiatek holds a 5-4 edge in matches against Rybakina.
“She’s a great player,” Rybakina said of Swiatek. “Of course, it’s going to be a difficult match. I will try to focus on myself and try to recover as well. Hopefully I can show good tennis.”
Rybakina of Kazakhstan converted 3 of 5 break points while Sabalenka was 0 of 5 in that category. Rybakina also won 80.6 percent (29 of 36) of her first-serve points.
Sabalenka of Belarus had four aces and won 65.2 percent (15 of 23) of her first-serve points.
Rybakina won the final five games of the first set. In the second, Sabalenka moved within one game before Rybakina didn’t lose a point while serving for the match.
“I’m happy with the serve,” Rybakina said. “It was the key. We’re both big hitters. Today I served really well.”
Swiatek won 82.8 percent of her first-serve points while soaring past Kalinskaya, the No. 28 seed.
Swiatek had lost her lone previous meeting against Kalinskaya, falling in straight sets in the Dubai semifinals in 2024.
“For sure, the match was much different (this time),” Swiatek said. “I’m really happy that I was proactive from the very beginning, I could play my game.
“It wasn’t easy, so I’m happy that I was solid and that I had enough intensity to put on the pressure.”
Swiatek jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the opening set en route to finishing it off. In the second set, Kalinskaya led 3-2 before Swiatek controlled the next three games.
What followed was an epic game as Kalikskaya saved four match points before winning the game to stay alive. Swiatek then served for the match and sealed the victory.
“I just played my game,” said Swiatek, the Polish star. “It was not easy but I’m happy that I stayed solid and kept my intensity.”
Kalinskaya had five aces but also double-faulted five times. Swiatek had two aces and three double faults.
Two other semifinal spots will be decided Friday. Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova faces France’s Varvara Gracheva and No. 2 seed Coco Gauff faces No. 7 Jasmine Paolini of Italy.
–Field Level Media
