Elena Rybakina’s US Open could be in jeopardy after she was forced to cut her Cincinnati quarterfinal with Swiatek short due to injury.
Chris OddoAugust 20, 20262 minute read
A rematch of last week’s final in Toronto promised to be an entertaining quarterfinal at the Cincinnati Open, with Elena Rybakina sitting just two wins away from surpassing Aryna Sabalenka to reach the WTA’s No.1 ranking for the first time (a trip to the final would have done the trick).
On a pleasantly warm evening in the Queen City, it never materialized.
Rybakina was forced to retire due to an injury to what looked to be her left achilles, handing Swiatek a 4-1, RET. victory and vaulting the defending champion into a semifinal clash with Jessica Pegula on Saturday.
Rybakina came into the match with tape around her left ankle and appeared to aggravate on the penultimate point of the match. She took time to consult with doctors before walking to the service stripe to continue the match.
While there she quickly realized that she couldn’t get any lift-off on her serve. She walked to the net and shook hands with Swiatek, ending the contest in 30 minutes.
It’s a tough break for Rybakina, with the US Open’s main draw set to commence in just ten days.
“Honestly, I was feeling anxious, just looking at this situation,” Swiatek said. “I hope that Elena will be fine. Obviously, the next tournament is the priority. I know this one is important as well, but the US Open is the US Open.
“I hope she’s gonna be ready for that, because she’s also super close to being No.1 in the world – it’s a shame, because I felt we were playing a good match.”
Swiatek came away with the hard-earned victory over Rybakina last week, the Pole winning her 12th Masters 1000 with a dominant 6-2, 6-3 victory over her rival in their 13th career meeting. After notching the first break and playing well through five games, she stretched her current winning streak to ten with today’s abbreviated victory.
Swiatek leads the overall head-to-head with Pegula, who defeated Amanda Anisimova in a third-set tiebreak earlier on Thursday, 7-5.
“I feel like we’ve been on Tour for a while, we’ve been playing many matches where we had our best games clashing, and it’s always such a tough match,” Swiatek said. “It went both ways. Many three-setters. So I’m excited to play this match because for sure it’s gonna be a challenge for me. She has a great game for hard courts and it’s gonna be a good semi for sure.”
