Rybakina, unstoppable: to the semifinals on a streak of 12 victories

Elena Rybakina she is indisputably one of the fittest players in world women’s tennis, if not the best right now, with the permission of the world number one, Iga Swiatek, is out due to injury after falling precisely against the Kazakh in Indian Wells, and of the two, Aryna Sabalenka. The Belarusian beat her in the Australian Open final, but she lost less than two weeks ago in the Californian WTA 1,000. in the of Miami They could fight for the title again, because Rybakina is already a semifinalist after beating Martina Trevisan with authority, 6-3, 6-0 in 69 minutes. On Thursday, she will face American Jessica Pegula or Russian Anastasia Potapova. Sabalenka, for her part, will seek the pass to the penultimate round on Wednesday against the Romanian Sorana Cirstea.

Elena and Aryna share the lead in wins (20) this season and are in the top three in aces. That is where the tennis player born in Moscow and nationalized by Kazakhstan rules with 201 in 24 games after the 10 that she placed (she has 46 these two weeks) against the 29-year-old Italian and 24th in the world, who was debuting in the main draw of the tournament and is the first tennis player from her country to reach the quarterfinals since Errani and Vinci in 2013. She had never reached so far on hard court.

There was little he could do before the power of a Rybakina who, at 23 years old, has won 12 victories and has reached the semifinals of a WTA event 18 times, 13 on concrete. and is determined to achieve what only four other women have achieved: the Sunshine Double, win Indian Wells and Miami in the same course. In a busy first set, he prevailed with two breaks, the second after unexpectedly losing serve for 4-3. The second was resolved with a double break at the start. Despite the victory, Elena was not entirely satisfied: “I’m not happy with the first serve percentage (54%)”. It is the requirement of a champion.