Wimbledon defending champion Elena Rybakina secured a quarter-final at the event after her opponent Beatriz Haddad Maia retired from the match with an injury.
Haddad Maia had a really strong showing on grass last year winning two WTA trophies and almost being unbeatable for an entire month. This year didn't see her play as well on the surface but she had a really strong run going at Wimbledon.
The Brazilian made it to the 4th round where she faced the defending champion Elena Rybakina. She was hopeful about giving the Kazakhstani player some trouble as one of the better players on the surface. Her story is quite inspiring and she could have added another chapter to it at Wimbledon.
Unfortunately, the match didn't last long as the Brazilian called an early medical timeout down 1-3. She wasn't playing that well and struggled with her serve a lot winning only 2 points out of 8 on her first serve. It was a rather lengthy medical timeout and unfortunately, she couldn't continue retiring after one more game played sending Rybakina to the quarter-final.
There was a lot of doubt about Rybakina leading up to Wimbledon as she confirmed that she wasn't 100 % after battling a virus during her Paris stay. She recovered from the illness but still didn't feel her best and even now, during the event, Rybakina admitted that she's not there yet but improving with every match.
This one was a rather short affair but she won't mind getting closer to her goal of successfully defending her Wimbledon trophy. The Kazakhstani player was backed by some former professionals to do that while most have her in the circle of favourites that also includes Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek besides her.
The final score was 4-1 for Rybakina who will face either Ons Jabeur or Petra Kvitova in the quarter-final. She faced Jabeur in the final last year.
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