Canadian Open: Rybakina outlasts Kasatkina in marathon quarter-finals

MONTREAL: No.3 seed Elena Rybakina saved a match point while overcoming No.10 seed Daria Kasatkina in a nearly three-and-a-half-hour long thrilling quarter-finals at the Canadian Open, here.

No.3 seed Elena Rybakina saved one match point during a marathon late-night victory over No.10 seed Daria Kasatkina to reach the Omnium Banque Nationale semifinals.

Rybakina prevailed 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(8) over Kasatkina after 3 hours and 27 minutes of play in their quarterfinal classic on late Friday night. The match ended just five minutes before the clock struck 3:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.

On a day where four of the five preceding matches were three-setters which lasted over two hours, this final match of the day was the lengthiest by far. It currently ranks as one of the 10 longest matches of this season.

With this, Rybakina has now won all four of her WTA 1000 quarterfinals in 2023. She has won 22 matches at WTA 1000 events this year, which leads all players in 2023.

The 24-year old Rybakina is also this season's tour leader in aces. She struck seven more against Kasatkina to bring her total for the year up to 370.

Both Rybakina and Kasatkina broke serve 10 times in the closely-contested encounter, but it is Rybakina who moves on to a semifinal showdown against No.15 seed Liudmila Samsonova. Samsonova has won both of their previous meetings, including a tussle in Montreal two years ago.