Wimbledon champ Elena Rybakina moves on in Ostrava

Elena Rybakina bested native Petra Kvitova 7-6(5) 6-4 in a very close match to secure the semi-final in Ostrava.

Rybakina nearly lost in the previous round to Aliaksandra Sasnovich as the Belarussian player served for the set. She survived and now finds herself in the semi-final of this even after playing a very good match to take down Kvitova in two sets. It was a very competitive opening set as both players were comfortable on their serve.

Both also had break chances but neither was able to convert those. In the tiebreak, risked a bit more after falling behind 2-4 and it paid off for her. She pulled it out 7-5 thanks to some amazing winners and some good serving when it really mattered.

She served well today and that was another key reason why she was able to win this match. Kvitova did not have many chances and that contributed to the result. In the second set, Kvitova faced many break points as Rybakina was firing on all cylinders and eventually the Wimbledon champion was able to go ahead 4-3.

A comfortable serving game confirmed the break and some minutes after that she was heading to the net to shake the hand of Kvitova. It was a good performance for Rybakina with the key being a better serve and more chances. Rybakina had 10 break chances with Kvitova only having one.