Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka staged a “crazy comeback”, saving four match points before beating Elena Rybakina 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 in the quarterfinals of the Berlin Open tennis tournament on Friday.
Sabalenka was 6-2 down in the final-set tiebreak but came storming back, winning six straight points to reach her eighth semifinal of the season.
“Elena is a great player and we’ve had a lot of tough battles,” Sabalenka said. “I have no idea how I was able to win those last points. I think I just got lucky.
“I remember a long time ago when I was just starting, I won a lot of matches being down match points, and not so long ago I was thinking that it’s been a while since I’ve made a crazy comeback, and here I am.
“It’s amazing to win matches like that. I’m proud of myself for how I stayed in it. I was fighting, I was trying until the very last point.”
Sabalenka next faces Marketa Vondrousova, who defeated Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-1.
Liudmila Samsonova also went through with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Amanda Anisimova.
Samsonova will next meet Wang Xinyu or Paula Badosa.
Sabalenka defeats Rybakina at Berlin Open
Berlin, Jun 21 (AP)