Elena Rybakina reached her second consecutive Wimbledon quarter-final in unfortunate circumstances on Monday after her opponent was forced to quit after just five games played.
The top seed broke early on and was leading Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia 3-1 before the match came to a sudden stop. Maia was in visible discomfort with her lower back region and instantly called for a trainer. She then left the court for treatment but could only play one more game after that.
“It’s never easy to finish a match like this – I hope it is nothing really serious, it is really unlucky for Beatriz,” Rybakina said during her on-court interview. “Hopefully she is going to get better and I am just happy to play another round.’
“I was feeling the ball really well even though it was really windy today. I think for today, that it is for me, no more tennis but tomorrow I will practice.”
Rybakina is currently making her 16th Grand Slam appearance at Wimbledon this year. She now has a win-loss record of 14-1 at the tournament with her only defeat being to Aryna Sabalenka in 2021. To put that into perspective, in the Open Era the only other women to have won 14 out of their first 15 matches played at the Grand Slam are Maria Sharapova and Billie Jean King. As for this season so far, Rybakina has produced 341 aces which is more than any other WTA player.
Rybakina is the first women’s defending champion to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon since Serena Williams back in 2016 who went on to win the title.
In the next round she will play either Ons Jabeur in what will be a repeat of the 2022 final or the in-form Petra Kvitova who is on a eight-match winning run.
