The first racket of Kazakhstan Elena Rybakina reached the 1/8 finals of the WTA 1000 major tournament in Indian Wells (California, USA) for the first time in her career. Correspondent bbabo.net - about what awaits the 22-year-old tennis player next.

In the third round, Rybakina, ranked 20th in the WTA rankings, beat the eminent rival from Belarus Victoria Azarenka - 6:3, 6:4. Now Elena has already won two matches in the tournament and both of them - in two sets.

Victoria Azarenka had a nervous breakdown in a match with Elena Rybakina at a tournament in the USA

For reaching the quarterfinals, Rybakina will play with the 31st seed from Switzerland Victoria Golubich. The path of the 29-year-old athlete to the 1/8 final stage turned out to be much more difficult than that of Elena.

In the second round, Golubich outplayed Kazakhstani Yulia Putintseva in three sets - 6:3, 2:6, 6:4. In the third round, Victoria in a difficult meeting defeated the Italian Yasmine Paolini - 7:5, 1:6, 7:6 (4).

In two matches, Golubich spent four hours and 57 minutes on the court. And it does not go to any comparison with Rybakina, who played three hours and three minutes.

The score of personal meetings also speaks in favor of the Kazakhstani. In 2019, they played at a tournament in China, and then Rybakina beat Golubich in three sets - 6:4, 3:6, 7:5.

Of the 16 tennis players remaining in the tournament bracket, Rybakina ranks fifth in the rating. Many players among the favorites have already completed their performances in Indian Wells. Rybakina is the favorite in the confrontation with Golubich, and the Kazakhstani has excellent chances to reach the quarterfinals of the competition. However, by now, despite Elena's good performance, she has lost one more position in the Live rating. 19-year-old Canadian Leyla Fernandez, who also advanced to the 1/8 finals, is ahead of Rybakina in the current classification.

Recall that Kazakhstani Alexander Bublik also made it to the 1/16 finals of the men's tournament in Indian Wells. He will play with the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov for reaching the 1/8 finals.

Matches Bublik - Dimitrov and Rybakina - Golubich will be held on Wednesday morning, March 16. Alexander's match will start approximately at 07:00, and the game with Elena's participation will begin at approximately 07:30 Nur-Sultan.

Russian tennis player sensationally lost the first tournament in the status of the first racket of the world

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