Elena Rybakina secured her place in the fourth round of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters after a hard-fought victory over Magdalena Frech. The match lasted two hours and included two rain delays, each lasting one hour. Rybakina won the match with a score of 6-4, 7-6 on Monday.
Poland’s Seventh Seed Overcomes First Set Loss to Secure Victory
The Polish seventh seed, fresh off her Toronto title victory last week, rallied to defeat her Greek opponent after dropping the first set. This win marks an improvement in her head-to-head record, bringing it to 6-4 against the Greek player. Meanwhile, the second-seeded Kazakh player acknowledged her struggle to close out the match, which extended into the afternoon hours.
With the Pole holding serve, the match went to a tie-breaker, where the seed finally got the job done on her fourth chance to get off court barely 10 minutes before more weather arrived.
“It was a crazy day, to be honest, coming out every time into clouds and humidity,” Rybakina said. “It’s hard to analyse this match,” Swiatek said. The players were forced off court after nine games of the first set and again in the seventh game of the second. Upon the second return at the start of a week when rain is repeatedly forecast, two-time Grand Slam champion Rybakina was unable to wrap it up on three match points against the Frech serve in the 12th game. “I felt that I was on top of the ball in the tie-break, but it was a difficult one. “I had the opportunities on the three match points but when you are tired it’s difficult to keep concentration. “I was playing good in the first set but I lacked precision, I was playing too much to her.
