(Provided by Tennis World USA)
Elena Rybakina made it to the semi-finals of the Italian Open on Wednesday after getting through her quarter-final clash against Iga Swiatek. The world no. 1 forfeited the match with an injury to her right thigh. The score read 2-6, 7-6(3), 2-2 in Rybakina’s favour at the time of the Pole’s retirement.
Swiatek began the match on a focused note and kept at it all the way to clinching the first set. The early moments of the second set, too, went Swiatek’s way as she broke Rybakina early. However, from the eighth game onwards, momentum slipped away from the top-seed’s side.
Rybakina got the break back in the eighth game of the set and held on long enough to push the set into the tie-break. In the tie-break, the proceedings went the Kazakh’s way. In the third set, Swiatek, who’d taken an MTO during the break after the second set, decided she wasn’t able to play further in the match.
Swiatek’s exit from Rome put an end to her victory streak in the 1000 tournament after 14 matches. Meanwhile, this is the first time in her career that Rybakina’s gone this far in a tournament on clay. This result also meant that the 23-year-old reached the…
