Rybakina denies Jabeur in the quarter -finals Abu Dhabi

The defending champion Elena Rybakina survived a strict test from Ons Jabeur In the quarterfinals of the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open on Thursday, roof in a tiebreak with third set, 6: 2, 3: 6, 7: 6 (4) to return to the semi -finals and win their sixth game in a row at the event .

Abu Dhabi: Drawing | Scores | Game | 411

The sixth career meeting between the two players continued the trend of her all-time-head-to-head with a fifth three. After two dominant sets of the winning player, Jabeur needed two options to serve the second set after 5: 1-the third sentence was decided by the slimest edges. Jabeur scored more winners than Rybakina (43 to 29) and both players achieved the same amount of casual errors (42), but it was the number 5 of the world that won the last points that were important.

In the end, the top seeds escaped in 2 hours and 13 minutes by winning the last five points of the game.

“It was an extremely difficult match. ONS, she played very well – we played so close, every game and I am really glad that I managed to win … and to survive another round,” said Rybakina about the match, which she described “a large roller coaster”.

Rybakina saved a breakpoint at 1-1, the first of the two players in the set, and earned a break later in the sixth game after beating three chances for Jabeur 3: 3. The fan favorite tunesian roared back from a 4-2 deficit and, after two match points in their 6: 5 service game, had all the momentum when they built a 4: 2 player when changing the ends in the decisive tie-break.

But Rybakina was not about to put her crown under control, and finally played Jabeur her first top 10 victory since the WTA final 2022.

“It’s not easy,” said Rybakina about the match points that passed. “The first point, she played really well and the second, I just hurried and made a mistake, but I knew that it was a hard match, no matter what happens, and I just had to fight and play point by point. “

Between Rybakina and a place in the final in a row for the second time in a row, the resonating Belinda Bencic, the Markta Vondrousova defeated in the first quarter -finals on Thursday on Thursday. The former world No. 4, which still builds in the middle of her comeback after the birth of her daughter in 2024, is also a former champion in Abu Dhabi, who won the title in 2023 and is looking for her first final since Charleston this season.