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Elena Rybakina made it to the quarters of the Italian Open for the first time in her career. The Kazakh put an end to Marketa Vondrousova’s upset-causing ways in their fourth-round match on Monday. The seventh seed prevailed 6-3, 6-3 in an hour and 12 minutes.
Rybakina won 73% of her first-serve points to the Czech’s 69%. She also won 82% points on return on the latter’s second serve. The world no. 6 had more than as many winners as Vondrousova, 28 to the latter’s 13.
In terms of break point conversions, the 23-year-old five of seven break points on her opponent’s serve while saving six of eight break points she faced. Post-match, Rybakina said, “I'm happy to stay aggressive.
There were some moments it was up and down but overall, it was a good match, good serving from me. For sure now I need as many matches as I can to be more confident at the French Open”. In the quarter-finals, Rybakina will take on either the top-seeded Iga Swiatek or the 21st-seeded Donna Vekic.
Their fourth-round match was pushed to Tuesday after rain forced the abandonment of the latter matches.
Italian Open: Jelena Ostapenko's showing signs of peaking
Jelena Ostapenko also made her way into the quarters in Rome.
The 20th seed downed eighth-seeded Daria Kasatkina 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 in an hour and 59 minutes. Ostapenko gained the upper hand early on against Kasatkina and while the higher-ranked took the second set for herself, it didn’t come easy to her.
The deciding set once again saw Ostapenko recapture the momentum and secure the win for herself. Now a three-time Rome quarter-finalist, Ostapenko awaits the winner of Paula Badosa and Karolina Muchova. Their match, too, was among those rescheduled.
Meanwhile, in the bottom half of the draw, 11th seed Veronika Kudermetova booked a quarter-final clash against 22nd seed Qinwen Zheng. Kudermetova got the better of Marie Bouzkova 6-2, 6-2 in an hour and 19 minutes. Zheng won against fellow countrywoman Xiyu Wang 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
The final quarter-final at the Italian Open will be contested between 12th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia and 30th seed Anhelina Kalinina. The Brazilian defeated Camila Osorio 6-3, 6-3 while the Ukrainian came from a set down to defeat 19th seed Madison Keys, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.
For both Haddad Maia and Kalinina, this is a career-first quarter-final in Rome. Photo Credit: Italian Open Twitter