World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus saved four match points in the final-set tiebreaker to defeat Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (6) in the quarterfinals of the Berlin Tennis Open on Friday.
Sabalenka came out on top despite trailing Rybakina 6-2 in the deciding tiebreaker of what was an intense, back-and-forth match throughout. In her first Berlin semifinal, Sabalenka will face 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, who won seven of her the last eight games to beat lucky loser Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 6-4, 6-1 in a rematch of their 2023 Wimbledon final.
Also reaching the Berlin semifinals is China’s Xinyu Wang, who won the opening set 6-1 against Paula Badosa before the Spaniard retired early in the second set with a hip injury. Wang will face Russian Liudmila Samsonova, who made easy work of American opponent Amanda Anisimova with a 6-1, 6-1 victory that lasted just 57 minutes.
Lexus Nottingham Open
No. 8 seed Katie Boulter will not have a chance to win a third consecutive title in Nottingham, England, after dropping her quarterfinal match to McCartney Kessler.
In a match that lasted two hours and seven minutes, the last Brit standing in the tournament fought back from a set down to force the decider. However, the American Kessler won the last four games to reach her fourth WTA semifinal with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win.
Kessler, who upset No. 1 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil in the first round, will face Slovak Rebecca Sramkova, who rebounded from a first-set loss to defeat Czech seventh seed Linda Noskova 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. The other semifinal match will feature Polish sixth seed Magda Linette — who took down No. 2 seed Clara Tauson of Denmark 6-2, 7-5 — facing off against Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska, who took care of No. 5 seed Leylah Fernandez of Canada 6-3, 7-6 (6).
–Field Level Media
