There is a revenge! Rybakina did not defend her title at Wimbledon, missing the third set in a match with Zhaber
Pavel Panyshev Jul 12, 2023 05:51 pm UTC Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
A Moscow native, playing for Kazakhstan, took the first set, but then the inexplicable started to happen to her.
Muscovite Elena Rybakina, who represents Kazakhstan on the WTA tour, continues to defend her title at Wimbledon. The 24-year-old athlete confidently reached the quarterfinal stage. This is good, because in previous tournaments, Elena had health problems that prevented her from acting with all her strength, she even had to withdraw.
“Do I feel like a Wimbledon champion now? I feel different compared to the beginning of the year, simply because I show good results. I didn’t finish last year the way I wanted. This year, of course, the feeling is different from last year. Not just at Wimbledon, but in general because of the results, because of the way I started the year.
Now I feel much better and more confident going to center court. Not like the first round. It was the atmosphere, the nerves of the first game, you had to get used to the grass, play a few games here. Now I feel better mentally, physically too. I hope to continue in the same spirit,” Rybakina said.
How Elena Rybakina won the last Wimbledon:
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Oh yes, Lena – Rybakina became the first Muscovite to win Wimbledon! Spreads and Grid
In personal meetings, the score is equal – 2-2. Rybakina won in 2019 in Wuhan (hard) and, of course, in the Wimbledon final last year (3:6, 6:2, 6:2). Zhaber won twice in 2021; however, in the semifinals of the tournament in Chicago, Elena refused to continue the fight in the middle of the second game, and lost the first set before that.
Last year’s finale added additional intrigue to the reporting confrontation. This was the first Grand Slam title for Rybakina, so the difficult three-set victory over Zhaber will definitely be remembered by the Kazakh tennis player forever. And now fate has brought Elena and Ons together again on the lawns of London, but in a different setting.
In the first set, with the score 3:2, the girls had already managed to exchange breaks, while bringing other people’s feeds to zero. In the actions of both tennis players at the start there was a kind of nervousness and instability.
It seemed that with a score of 5:5, Tunisia, having won Rybakina’s serve, would take the game, but Rybakina managed to bring the matter to a tiebreaker and eventually won it. In general, an incredibly stubborn ensemble turned out. In the final, we repeat, Ons was able to make an important break, but he couldn’t hold the serve. Elena clearly played, began to play faster and deeper. At the same time, Ons left a stronger impression over the course of the game. Zhaber cleanly earned 12 points and made eight errors, while Rybakina had six and seven, respectively.
Elena Rybakina lost to Ons Zhaber
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
In the second set, the girls took turns, and for Zhaber, the price of every mistake was high. Things gradually went to the second tiebreaker in a row, but then Elena unexpectedly failed on her serve with the score 5: 4 in favor of her opponent. The Tunisian has excellent stats in this game: 14 shots from depth and three errors, as well as five successful starts on the gridiron of five.
In the third delivery, Zhaber first won the first game, and then brought Elena’s serve to zero – Rybakina made a lot of mistakes. In addition, the powerful first serve of the Muscovite stopped working. With the score 3:1 in favor of Tunisia, the athlete from Kazakhstan had a chance to break, but her opponent saved the game and took the lead 4:1. Elena completely unstuck, after not being able to file normally: she Ons literally tortured her opponent. As a result, Zhaber defeated Rybakina with a score of 6: 1 and reached the Wimbledon semifinals, where she will play Arina Sobolenko. Unfortunately, Elena Rybakina was unable to defend last year’s title.
