Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Elena Rybakina stormed into her first Cincinnati Open semi-final with a commanding 6-1, 6-4 victory over defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, while five-time Grand Slam winner Carlos Alcaraz overcame a second-set lapse to defeat Andrey Rublev to reach the last four.
The ninth-seeded Kazakh produced an impressive display to earn her seventh career win against a world No.1, setting up a high-stakes semi-final clash with six-time major champion Iga Swiatek in a battle of Wimbledon titleholders.
Rybakina delivered a dominant serving performance, firing 11 aces and winning 81% of points on her first serve. She saved all five break points she faced to notch her fifth victory over Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka in 12 encounters.
Earlier in the day, Swiatek reached her first WTA 1000 semi-final in 15 months with a 6-3, 6-4 win over 28th seed Anna Kalinskaya. The Russian, who had beaten Swiatek in their only previous meeting, showed resilience by saving four match points before the Polish third seed finally converted her fifth opportunity on serve to close out the match. Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova cruised into her first Cincinnati Open semi-final with a commanding 6-1, 6-2 win over compatriot Varvara Gracheva. The former top-10 player appears to be regaining her best form, securing her first WTA 1000 semi-final appearance since 2023.
