Elena Rybakina had to fight in her second-round match at the 2023 Canadian Open in Montreal, but it was a victorious fight.
Taking on a former Grand Slam finalist is never easy, especially when they return from a long injury hiatus. That was exactly the case with Jennifer Brady, who was determined to trouble Rybakina in their second-round match at the WTA 1000 event in Montreal.
Although the Kazakhstani player was down 2-4 in the opening set, she recovered the one-break deficit to force the tie-break. In the tie-break, Rybakina was down 2-4 when the match had to be stopped.
It was challenging for both players to stop the match, but the weather didn't ask any questions, and the match simply had to be postponed, leaving both players in a tricky spot for its resumption.
When the players returned to the court, Brady won that first-set tie-break, as she won three of the four points the players played upon the resumption of the match. After the match, Rybakina talked about how challenging and unlucky the situation was.
"I think it was unlucky that we stopped in this moment. It was 4-2 on the tiebreak and tough score to come back. We stayed I think for the one hour extra after to have finally decision to wait more or not, so it was tough."
Still, Rybakina won the match in three sets: 6-7(3), 7-6(5), and 6-3, and that was the main thing that she focused on after it, as it meant she could continue her attempt to win the title.
"Yeah, just to recover and start again this match, it wasn't easy, but I'm happy that in the end it was tough battle, but I managed to win."
"Really happy that I managed to win this match. It was a really tough one with the rain delay of yesterday. Yeah, today also it was a really long rally sometimes, and this is something I need to get used to with all the conditions."