Elena Rybakina needed two hours on court plus two one-hour rain interruptions to defeat Magdalena Frech 6-4, 7-6 on Monday and reach the fourth round at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters.
The second-seeded Kazakh admitted she struggled to close out a match which dragged on for much of the afternoon. The Polish seventh seed, who won the Toronto title last week, improved to 6-4 over her Greek opponent, heading to the changing rooms after dropping the first set and returning as if another player.
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.
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.
