Google News Wimbledon: Ons Jabeur sets Elena Rybakina clash in last-8; eyes payback for 2022 loss
by ABBEY JOHNSON
Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon winner got another step closer in trying to retain her title at the Championships. On Monday, the third seed got through the fourth round to enter the quarter-finals. Rybakina advanced after her opponent, 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia retired mid-match.
The 24-year-old led the Brazilian 4-1 in the first with a double break when the latter found it unable to continue. Earlier in the match, Haddad Maia looked to have been struggling with an injury in her lower back and had even taken a medical time-out (MTO).
In the quarter-finals, Rybakina’s set a showdown with sixth seed Ons Jabeur. Theirs will be a second meeting against each other for the second straight year. In 2022, Jabeur and Rybakina had played the final.
Wimbledon: Dominance becomes Ons Jabeur and Aryna Sabalenka
Meanwhile, speaking of her fourth-round match, Jabeur posted an uncomplicated win against two-time former winner here, ninth seed Petra Kvitova.
Jabeur needed only 63 minutes to wrap up a 6-0, 6-3 win for herself. The opening set lasted only 22 minutes. Throughout the set, the 28-year-old looked to be running away with the proceedings even as Kvitova looked troubled at the other side of the net.
The Czech who’d had tough wins in the first three rounds – even with easy-looking scoresheets – was put out by the Tunisian’s game. It also didn’t help that her own shot-making kept letting her down as it’d in the previous rounds.
The second set was comparatively closer as Jabeur handed one of the two breaks back even as Kvitova held her serve for the first time in the match. But as the set wound down, time looked to have gotten away from the former world no.
2 as she surrendered a third break in the ninth game, giving her opponent the win. Kvitova’s defeat also put an end to her eight-match victory run on grass this year, going back to the Bett1 Open in Berlin. Second seed Aryna Sabalenka also made her way into the quarter-finals.
The world no. 2 who’d faced problems in her first two rounds looked to have played herself into form in the third round. Against 21st seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the fourth round, Sabalenka continued with this newfound form, posting a 6-4, 6-0 win after 71 minutes of play.
Sabalenka didn’t face any breakpoints. She was also quite good with her net approaches, winning 11 of 13 points played there. For the match, Sabalenka finished with 19 winners and 15 unforced errors. Alexandrova had 15 winners and eight unforced errors.
Looking to make it to her second Wimbledon semi-final, Aryna Sabalenka will now play Madison Keys. The 25th seed survived 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva’s fearlessness in a match that went on for two hours and three minutes.
Keys came from a set and a break in the second set to win strongly, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2. This is the second time the American’s made it to the quarter-finals of the British Slam. Photo Credit: Simon Bruty/AELTC