Elena Rybakina beat Petra Kvitova 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 in a clash between Wimbledon champions to reach the semifinal at the Agel Open in Ostrava.
Rybakina, who won the Wimbledon title last summer, fired 31 winners to just six unforced errors. Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova produced 26 winners to 12 unforced errors, but she was never able to break Rybakina.
Both players went on serve with no breaks of serve in the opening set. Kvitova earned a mini-break with a volley winner. Rybakina fired a winner to pull back on serve at 4-3. Rybakina earned her first set point at 6-5 after a double fault by Kvitova.
Rybakina sealed the tie-break after Kvitova hit her backhand into the net.
Kvitova fended off a total of six break ppints in her first two service games in the second set. Rybakina earned her first break on her 10th break point in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead.
Rybakina dropped just one point in her final two service games and closed out the second set with her 11th ace.
“I think I served really well. It helped me, especially in some tight moments. It was a solid match for me”, said Rybakina.
Rybakina set up a semifinal against 2021 Roland Garros champion Barbora Krejcikova.
Krejcikova beat Rubakina in their only previous head-to-head match at the Grampians Trophy in 2021.
This year’s Seoul champion Ekterina Alexndrova edged past Tereza Martincova 6-1 4-6 6-1 after 1 hour and 46 minutes. Alexandrova leads 4-2 in her six head-to-head matches against Martincova.
Alexandrova set up a semifinal against world number 1 player Iga Swiatek. Alexandrova beat Swiatek in their only previous head-to-head clash.
