Rybakina leads Kazakhstan into United Cup quarterfinals

Elena Rybakina steered Kazakhstan into the United Cup quarterfinals for the first time with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Maria Sakkari on Monday in Perth, sealing the Group C tie following Alexander Shevchenko’s upset of Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Zhibek Kulambayevan and Aleksandr Nedovyesov made it a clean sweep for Kazakhstan by defeating Despina Papamichail and Petros Tsitsipas 2-6 6-3 [10-6]. 

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"Really excited and super happy for the team," Rybakina said. "Everybody tried hard, Sasha in singles. Today was a tough match for me also, but I'm really happy to be through to the quarterfinals."

Three of the four prior meetings between Rybakina and Sakkari stretched to three sets, but the Kazakh was under no threat of such a result in RAC Arena: After the first nine games of the match went with serve, with only one break point faced by the two players combined, Rybakina ripped off six consecutive games en route to a 1 hour and 23-minute victory.

In only her third match since the Paris Olympics, the consequence of a shoulder injury that ended her 2024 season after the US Open, Sakkari started off much better against Rybakina than she did in her opening 6-2, 6-1 loss to Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maniero two days ago. She created a break point in the first game of the match, and the two players went tit-for-tat over the first nine games. But Sakkari blinked in the 10th, and quickly fell behind 0-40 before a double fault handed the set to the 2022 Wimbledon champion.

A pair of second-set breaks -- including in a four-deuce fourth game where Sakkari had two chances to stop Rybakina’s mid-match run -- proved enough cushion for the World No.6 to take victory, but she didn’t have things all her own way. Trailing 5-0 in the second set, Sakkari won three straight games, saving two match points along the way, but a missed overhead finally put an end to the Greek’s last stand.

"I know when it's 5-0 it's a little bit nothing to lose for the opponent," Rybakina said. "She started to play more aggressively and some good shots from her. A little bit lucky on the match point but a really positive match for me."

Prior to Rybakina’s win, 24-year-old Shevchenko prevailed 6-4, 7-6(0) over World No. 11 Tsitsipas, capitalizing on an out-of-sorts performance from the Greek to put Kazakhstan 1-0 up.

Shevchenko looked considerably transformed from the player who fell 6-2, 6-1 to Pablo Carreño Busta in Friday’s day session, having seemingly well adjusted to the hot conditions. Yet Tsitsipas, who played his opening clash Saturday evening under the lights, struggled physically and called a medical time-out in the second set. Despite a late fightback, in which he rallied from a break deficit, to force a tiebreak, Tsitsipas fired 40 unforced errors throughout the contest, which ultimately proved the difference.  

"I think he was not at his best today but still I played really well and I found the moments to win the match," Shevchenko said. "It will definitely go in my record as one of my best wins.

"I was risking with my backhand down the line and it worked out really well. I've been dreaming of playing this event. … It’s unbelievable to be here playing on this court."

There were moments of brilliance in the opening set from Shevchenko, who came out firing. The No.78 in the PIF ATP Rankings dragged his higher-ranked opponent across the court with ease for much of the opener, taking advantage of an error-strewn seventh game from Tsitsipas to break serve.

Tsitsipas called for the physio in the opening game of the second set, but was broken to love following treatment. As Shevcehnko drew closer to his fourth win over a Top 20 opponent, Tsitsipas began to find his range. The Greek’s groundstrokes, which had deserted him for a set and a half, returned with conviction in the eighth game of the second set. Tsitsipas found a clinical return game to break back and force a tie-break, but Shevchenko recovered to win a flawless breaker and seal the pair’s maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.