Elena Rybakina led Kazakhstan into the quarter finals at the United Cup for the first time with a 6-4 6-3 win over Maria Sakkari after Alexander Schevchenko’s upset win over Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Alexander Schevchenko beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 7-6 (7-0) to give Kazakhstan a 1-0 lead.
Schevchenko earned the first break in the seventh game to win the opening set 6-4. Tsitsipas called for the physiotherapist in the opening game of the second set, but he was broken to love following treatment. Tsitsipas broke back in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4 forcing the match to the tie-break. Schevchenko earned three mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-0. Tsitsipas made 40 unforced errors throughout the match.
“I think he was not at his best today but still I played really well and I found the moments to win the match. It will definitely go in my record as one of my best wins. I was risking with my backhand down the line and it worked out really well. I have been dreaming of playing this event. It’s unbelievable to be here playing on this court”, said Schevchenko.
Elena Rybakina beat Maria Sakkari 6-4 6-3 to seal a 2-0 win knocking Greece from the competition. Three of the previous four matches between Rybakina and Sakkari went to the third set, but this time Rybakina sealed the win in straight set in 1 hour and 23 minutes.
Both players went on serve in the first nine games. Sakkari, who lost to Spain’s Jessica Bouzias Maniero, earned a break point in the first game of the match but Rybakina held serve at deuce.
Sakkari and Rybakina combined faced just one break point in the first nine games. Sakkari went down 0-40 before Rybakina earned the first break to seal the opening set 6-4 after a double fault from her Greek rival. Rybakina reeled off six consecutive games with two breaks of serve to race out to a 5-0 lead after Sakkari earned two game points in a four-deuce fourth game. Sakkari won three consecutive games, saving two match points in the eighth game, but Rybakina sealed the win on her third match point after a missed overhead from Sakkari.
Sakkari was playing her third match since the Olympic Games in Paris as a consequence of a shoulder injury.
“I am really excited and super happy for the team. Everybody tried hard. Today was a tough match also, but I am really happy to be through to the quarter finals. I know when it’s 5-0 it’s a little bit nothing to lose for the opponent. She started to play more aggressively and some good shots from her. I was a little bit lucky on the match point but it was a really positive match for me”, said Rybakina.
Zhibek Kulambayeva and Aleksandr Nedovyesov completed a 3-0 clean sweep by coming back from one set down to beat Despina Papamichail and Petros Tsitsipas 2-6 6-3 10-6. Papamichail and Tsitsipas earned two breaks of serve to win the opening set 6-2. Kulambayeva and Nedovyesov broke twice in the seventh and ninth games to win the second set 6-3. The Kazakh team rallied from 1-4 down to win the Match tie-break 10-6 with four mini-breaks. Kazakhstan will face the winner of the tie between China and Germany in the quarter final.
