Elena Rybakina was riding a 6-match winning streak before this match, but that ended at the hands of Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Ekaterina Alexandrova is one of those players that you never want to play. The Russian is just a very tricky player whose best is pretty much a Top 10 level, which, combined with her ball-striking ability, is really tough to overcome.
She can hit the corners on either side, and she serves well, which is just an added problem. That said, Rybakina has been one of the best players in the world to start this year.
She demolished everybody in Brisbane last week, including reigning Australian Open champion Sabalenka, who got the chance to see a bagel from the other side.
She then opted to play this week in Adelaide, which made little sense to anybody, but she did it anyway. It didn't go too well today because she was all over the place, and it was by far the worst match she played this year.
On return, Rybakina struggled greatly with the first serve of Alexandrova. The pace the Russian generated was great, which didn't allow Rybakina to do much in this quarterfinal match of the 2024 Adelaide International.
The second serve was her chance, and for the most part, she won those rallies, but it wasn't really enough. The problem was mostly her own service, which didn't convert today.
Alexandrova dominated on return, winning over 50% of rallies on Rybakina's first serve and close to 50% on her second serve. It was just impressive to witness, considering Rybakina's reputation as a good server.
She basically allowed as many break points as she won points on the first serve, and that's obviously not good. With most things going Alexandrova's way, she didn't quite cruise comfortably to the finish line.
Rybakina mounted an offensive late push, pulling one break back and almost recovering also the other one. However, three break points were not converted, and the Russian closed it out. The final score was 6-3 6-3 for Alexandrova, who advanced to the semifinal.
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