No possibility! Rybakina defeated the Ukrainian at the US Open, dropping just three games
Pavel Panyshev Aug 28, 2023 23:35 UTC Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
After the handshake, Martha wished for Elena to win the tournament.
Elena Rybakina is definitely on the list of favorites for the current US Open. So far, the 24-year-old Muscovite has only won one Grand Slam tournament: Wimbledon. However, the tennis player who plays for Kazakhstan is clearly not going to stop there.
Let’s remember that in the WTA-1000 tournament that just ended in Cincinnati, Elena starred in the third round match with the Italian Yasmine Paolini. In general, Rybakina’s health has raised a lot of questions recently, so I would like to wish the girl to finally find the optimal form and show her best tennis.
“I think there is something like the Big Three in women’s soccer, these are Iga Sviontek, Arina Sobolenko and Elena Rybakina, but I feel that women still have the potential to expand these three,” said the former American tennis player. now television pundit and commentator Leif Shiras.
Who and how can take Iga Swiatek off the pedestal:
Sviontek’s dominance tires everyone. Only two tennis players can stop her
In fact, all three can repeat the achievements of the Big 3 (Federer, Djokovic, Nadal) in men’s tennis, although it will surely be very difficult to aspire to so many Slams.
At the first round briefing, Rybakina had to fight Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk. The only previous match between them in adult tennis was for Kostyuk. Marta won the second round of Adelaide 2023 6:7 (5), 6:2, 6:3. She also reached the semifinals of the 2017 Australian Open juniors (6-1, 7-5), where she ultimately became the champion. Note that Rybakina was still playing for Russia. So Martha is an awkward rival for Elena.
It is noteworthy that Rybakina started the match with a forehand pass. Service is one of Elena’s main assets. In turn, Kostyuk immediately lost serve from him and in the end made a double error. The Ukrainian’s nerves were clearly mischievous.
Kostyuk periodically rejoiced at the opponent’s mistakes, and this is bad form in tennis. Lena, as usual, behaved calmly and restrained. In the third game, a fight ensued on the Kazakh athlete’s serve, and Marta completed it with a genius forehand down the line, making a counterattack. True, Kostyuk did not have to rejoice for a long time – Rybakina again took someone else’s serve and went ahead 3:1.
Lena’s mistakes still slipped away: sometimes in a simple situation the ball went out, but the charge and density of blows of one of the best tennis players in the world did not go away.
Elena Rybakina
Photo: Alex Pantling/Getty Images
With the score 5:2 in favor of Rybakina, the Ukrainian managed to pull away from 0:40 on her serve, but Kostyuk still lost the game and with it the first set. After a key mistake in the net in a simple situation, Martha angrily threw the ball into the net twice with all her might. It is strange that the judge did not intervene.
Very tight statistics from the first game: 12 shots and errors by Elena, 11 by Marta. At the same time, there was a feeling that a lot depended on Rybakina, because it was she who led the game, she hit much more powerfully, and Kostyuk could not cope with such strong and deep blows. In the most important points at the end of the games, the representative of Kazakhstan performed better.
In the second set, Rybakina first brought her, and then someone else’s throw to zero – Kostyuk continued to be very nervous and splashed negatively. With the score 3: 0, Kostyuk called a physiotherapist on the court, as he had some problems with his thigh muscles. Or, quite possibly, the Ukrainian simply wanted to slow down.
After a medical timeout, Marta started with an ace and barely took the game, while Lena allowed two doubles on serve but still made it 4:1. Kostyuk finally “floated”, unable to oppose anything to the representative of Kazakhstan. Elena lost only three matches, defeating Marta for the first time in her career. In the second round, Rybakina will face the winner of the Udvardi-Tomlyanovich pair.
“Win the US Open, please,” Martha told Elena after shaking her hand. But this, unlike Kostyuk’s behavior during the entire meeting, is commendable.
