No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina saved some match points and pulled off an epic comeback against 50th-ranked Yulia Putintseva in the Madrid Open quarterfinal.
On Wednesday, top-ranked Kazakh female tennis player Rybakina took on fellow Kazakh Putintseva and the two delivered a thriller. And after two hours and 48 minutes of play, it was 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina who claimed a 4-6 7-6 (4) 7-5 win over Putintseva.
In the third set, Rybakina was inches away from losing the match as she was 2-5 down and facing two consecutive match points. But in those moments, Rybakina’s impressive comeback started and the world No. 4 is now set to battle against either Aryna Sabalenka or Mirra Andreeva in the Madrid semifinal.
How Rybakina beat Putintseva?
Early in the first set, Rybakina saved a break point in the first game but also missed out on three break points in the following game. After a couple of missed break points on both sides, Putintseva claimed the first break of the match in the fifth game and then held on to her serve for the rest of the first set to seal the opener.
Down by a set, Rybakina also found herself down by a break in the second set after dropping her serve in the third…
