Beats Iga Swiatek again to advance
By Ed Emeanua
Elena Rybakina ousted topmost ranked female tennis player in the world, Iga Swatiak, in straight sets, to clear the way for a major showdown with Aryna Sabalenka.
Rybakina dominated reigning queen Iga Swiatek to reach the finals of Indian Wells where she now encounters Aryna Sabalenka. Two months following her enthralling fourth round elimination of Swiatek from the Australian Open, Rybakina again slayed the world No. 1 via a commanding 6-2, 6-2 win in only an hour and 17 minutes.
She ended the Pole’s ambition to become the first woman to retain the title, following Martina Navratilova’s 1991 performance.
The win came almost effortlessly for Rybakina, who raced to a 2-0 lead in the opening set, closing her lead when Swiatek made a double fault on set point.
The Kazakh soon conjured up a whooping 5-0 lead in the second, maintaining her nerve well as Swiatek attempted to break back. Rybakina described her win as one of her ‘best matches this season’.
‘’I really played well today, it was a really nice atmosphere tonight,” Rybakina said during her on-court interview.
“I didn’t expect I would play that well today. I had nothing to lose, I just wanted to enjoy. I think it was one of my best matches this season.”
Like last year’s Australian Open final, Rybakina will clash with Sabalenka, who won her semi-finals encounter against Maria Sakkari with a straight-set.
Rybakina who aims to accomplish her first title of the year by winning the final, accepts that the Head2Head was one-sided.
However, she hopes her luck against the world No. 2 ‘will change’. ‘
‘It was really close, we had so many battles and so far I’m losing,” she stated.
‘’But hopefully that will change.”
