Elena Rybakina proved her favorite status with another very solid performance and a win over the always-tricky Arantxa Rus at the 2024 Roland Garros.
Rus is a clay specialist who loves to play on the surface and does really well. Her game is centered around a very strong baseline player with a lot of power, so the slowness of the court allows her to unleash her game.
She tried to do that against the fourth seed but didn't quite succeed because Rybakina plays very similarly and is simply better at what she does. This win wasn't as convincing as Rybakina's previous match in Paris, but it was still a really solid victory.
The first set was a 6-3 win for her, and it came mostly because she was just too overwhelming. She went for it in most rallies and hit winners at a pretty decent rate, certainly far better than her opponent.
She also served really well, which made things much easier and kept Rus from any kind of chance. The second set was a bit more complicated because the Dutch player found a bit more depth in her shots.
She could land the ball deep in the court, which gave Rybakina a lot of trouble due to her height. Unfortunately for her, a 4-2 lead for the Dutch player never became a won set because she couldn't quite hold it.
Rybakina pushed quite hard to get back into the match, and she succeeded partly because she read Rus's serve really well. Rybaina was on many serves and hit a winner to break fora 5-4 lead.
After that, she closed it out with a really solid service game. Overall, it was a pretty solid win for Rybakina, who moves on after a 6-3, 6-4 triumph.
| Elena Rybakina | 6-3, 6-4 | Arantxa Rus |
| 8 | Aces | 1 |
| 1 | Double Faults | 3 |
| 75% | First Serve % | 67% |
| 80% (36/45) | Points Won After First Serve % | 65% (22/34) |
| 40% (6/15) | Points Won After Second Serve % | 41% (7/17) |
| 75% (3/4) | Break Point Conversion | 33% (1/3) |
| 28 | Winners | 10 |
| 20 | Unforced Errors | 6 |