Rybakina Serves Her Way Into Miami Open Quarterfinals

| by Zlatko Vodenicharov

Good players can win also on their bad days and Elena Rybakina is proving that at the 2023 Miami Open.

In her first two matches, the 23-year-old needed three sets to beat both Anna Kalinskaya and Paula Badosa. Moreover, she faced a match point against the Spanish player but battled through. In the fourth round, Rybakina took on Elise Mertens who proved to be a difficult opponent too.

Although the Kazakhstani player needed only two sets to beat her fourth-round opponent, she struggled to find her rhythm many times throughout the match, and it was especially her serve that kept her going and pushed her to victory.

In the first set, Mertens started well as she broke the reigning Wimbledon champion to lead 4-3. However, Rybakina showed her qualities and won three consecutive games, including two breaks of serve, to win the first set 6-4.

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The scoreline of the second set suggests that it was smoother sailing for the Kazakhstani, but she had to fight on almost all of her service games, as many games went into multiple deuces, in which she had to show her resilience and mental strength.

In the end, Rybakina always held her serve, and eventually, she kept a one-break advantage that she earned early on and won the match in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, to advance at the WTA 1000 tournament and reach the 2023 Miami Open quarterfinals.

If the initially first-seeded Iga Swiatek competed in Miami, most probably, she would be Rybakina's quarterfinal opponent, but the Pole had to withdraw due to an injury, so the top part of the draw cleared up for Rybakina.

In Swiatek's absence, probably very happy Rybakina will take on the 25th-seeded Martina Trevisan from Italy, who beat the 24th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko from Latvia in the fourth round to reach her maiden WTA 1000 quarterfinal.

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