French Open: Rybakina bests Svitolina to reach quarters, Andreeva storms ahead

Paris, June 4 (IANS) Fourth seed Elena Rybakina booked her place in her second French Open quarterfinal with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of No.15 seed Elina Svitolina in 69 minutes at Stade Roland Garros here on Monday. She will face No.12 seed Jasmine Paolini, who reached the last eight of a Grand Slam for the first time with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 win over Elina Avanesyan.
Teenager Mirra Andreeva continued to take Paris by storm as she moved into her first-ever Grand Slam quarterfinal, outplaying the last Frenchwoman in the draw, Varvara Gracheva, 7-5, 6-2 in a pre-quarterfinal match on Monday. The right-hander, who only just turned 17, will play second seed Aryna Sabalenka for a place in the semis on Wednesday.
Rybakina, who reached the first Grand Slam quarterfinal of her career at Roland Garros 2021, advances to the last eight of a major for the fifth time overall, and for the first time since Wimbledon last year. The Kazakhstani player has not dropped a set in the tournament so far.
The result moves Rybakina into a tour-leading ninth quarterfinal of 2024. She has won three Hologic WTA Tour titles so far this season, in Brisbane, Abu Dhabi, and Stuttgart, and her overall record is now 34-5.
The last time the pair had met was in the bronze medal play-off at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, with Svitolina edging that match 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-4. The Ukrainian had also won their only previous clay-court encounter 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 in the 2020 Strasbourg final. Rybakina, who previously defeated Svitolina at Eastbourne 2021, levels their head-to-head at two wins apiece.
Rybakina tallied 26 winners, including five aces as she repeatedly deployed the drop shot, testing Svitolina’s movement to successful effect to win the first set.
In the second, the former Wimbledon champion pressed home her advantage at the net, where she won 12 out of 18 points overall.
After breaking Svitolina in the first game, Rybakina relinquished her lead with a flurry of unforced errors. However, she regained the break with a booming backhand winner for 3-2 and saved the only further break point she faced in the set in a similar style.
Rybakina made a dominant start to the second set, building a 4-1 double-break lead. This time, Svitolina found her best shots of the match — including a terrific backhand pass — to get one of the breaks back but was unable to reel Rybakina in any further.
–IANS
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