Twice down break point while two games from victory against world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina stepped up to serve. She had let victory slip through her fingers against Sabalenka two months earlier in Berlin, squandering four consecutive match points in a third-set tiebreak. She had suffered close losses from winning positions all year.

Elena Rybakina defeated top seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-1, 6-4 on Friday to knock the defending champion out in the quarterfinals of the WTA and ATP Cincinnati Open.