Google News WTA Rome: Elena Rybakina beats Jelena Ostapenko, the Highlights
by LORENZO CIOTTI | VIEW 974
For the first time in her career, Elena Rybakina made it to the final at the Internazionali d'Italia in Rome. The Kazakh beats Jelena Ostapenko with the result of 6-2 6-4. The first set says that, for better or for worse, it is a show by the Latvian tennis player.
Both tennis players want to push, they look for the point by taking the lines. If the exchange lasts for more than three exchanges, it is almost always the Roland Garros champion who makes a mistake. It is her aggressive and frantic tennis that leads her to make the most mistakes, while Rybakina knows that holding the rally could give her the point in the long run.
Just under an hour for the Wimbledon champion to win the partial, which lasted more for the last game than for the remaining games. In the second set, everything changes. Same pattern for Jelena Ostapenko, who manages to be more precise, to find all the lines, to push on all the shots.
Helped by the Kazakh, who misses the first serve and fails to be incisive in return. Thus comes the break in favor of the Latvian. But, everything that happened in this edition of the Internazionali d'Italia was dictated by the rain.
It stops at 4-2 for the Grand Slam champion in Paris and all in the locker room. Rybakina takes advantage of an unhappy return for Ostapenko and makes counter break and break to go and serve for the match. The Latvian, always pushing as hard as she can, saves a match point but it's just a matter of postponing something that is certain: the Wimbledon champion is the finalist in Rome.
Facing Elena Rybakina in the final will be Anhelina Kalinina. A fantastic journey so far for the Ukrainian tennis player, who reached the last act of this tournament by beating several top seeds. In the semifinals, she defeated the world number 12, as well as one of the most fit players on the circuit, the Russian Veronika Kudermatova: 7-5 5-7 6-2 in favor of the Ukrainian.
A match that was her favor for long stretches, until she had to serve for the match in the second set. A heavy empty passage, with 16 points in a row by Kudermatova who give her the second set. In the third, however, Kalinina levels up again and imposes herself in the first semifinal.
