It was a busy year for Arena Sabalenka, the number one female tennis player. She ran deep in all her grand slam events so far, reaching the Australian Open and French Open finals, and reaching the semi-final round at Wimbledon.
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Sabalenka has won many wins this year, but individual titles are difficult to achieve. Unfortunately for Sabalenka, that was also the case at the 2025 Cincinnati Open. Sabalenka arrived in the quarterfinals at the event before being eliminated by Elena Rivakina in straight sets on Friday.
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Sabalenka seemed unable to find her progress, especially early, in the match. Rybakina has the most advantage and earned a 6-1 victory in the first set. Sabalenka showed more fights in the second set, but was unable to overcome Rivakina’s early momentum. Rivakina won the match by winning the second set of 6-4.
Rivakina’s serve proved deadly during the match. She won 11 aces against the world’s No. 1. Sabalenka couldn’t match that total and finished the match with four aces. Rybakina’s dominant serve gave him an 80.6% win rate on First Sever Points Win.
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For the fifth time in her career, Rivakina won Sabalenka. The two have met a total of 12 times in their careers. Sabalenka went 4-0 in the first four games, with Rybakina thorns on the side of the No. 1 female player. In the final eight games, Rybakina has a 5-3 record against Sabalenka.
With the victory, Rivakina advances to the semi-finals, where she faces Iga Swiatek. Rybakina has done pretty well against Swiatek in their match. The two have played nine times and Swiatek retains the advantage, but she only rose 5-4 from head to head.
Rybakina will also aim for the series when the two meet for the 10th Sunday.
