DUBAI – Elena Rybakina has been one of the in-form players on the WTA Tour in this early part of the 2024 season, having already won titles in Brisbane and Abu Dhabi.
However, even top stars get bogged down by things that are not within their control sometimes.
On Feb 22, the Kazakh withdrew ahead of her Dubai Tennis Championships quarter-final clash with unseeded Jasmine Paolini, citing gastrointestinal illness, according to the WTA website.
The fourth seed’s unfortunate exit meant that her Italian opponent will advance to the last four via walkover.
It was a shame for fans of the 2022 Wimbledon champion, who would have felt encouraged by her Middle East swing, in which she also made the Doha final last week, before clinching two more wins in Dubai.
So far, she has made it to the last eight at five of her six tournaments in 2024, but perhaps the relentlessness of the sport has taken a toll on the 24-year-old.
After battling for 2hr 39min to get past qualifier Magdalena Frech 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-4 in the third round in Dubai on Feb 21, Rybakina had admitted to feeling the effects of a strenuous month.
“I’m happy that I’m still winning the matches,” she said.
“But I can see by the level that of course, physically and everything it’s dropping a bit. Most important is to stay healthy. With every match, it’s getting tougher and tougher physically.
“I don’t know how much I can push and how much I can recover in this half day.”
The good thing for Rybakina is that she is not suffering from an injury, and it is likely that she will recover and be raring to go again when Indian Wells comes around in March.
Paolini, ranked 26th in the world, will now play in the semi-finals of a WTA 1000 event for the first time in her career. The Italian will take on Romania’s Sorana Cirstea.
The 33-year-old world No. 22 booked her spot by seeing off Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 2-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-2.
On Feb 22, world No.1 Iga Swiatek extended her winning streak in the Middle East this year to seven matches with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over China’s Zheng Qinwen in the quarter-finals.
The top-seeded Pole will next meet either world No. 3 Coco Gauff or qualifier Anna Kalinskaya, who played in a late match.
In other news, men’s world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz says the ankle sprain that forced him out of the ATP Rio Open will sideline him for “a few days” and he will be ready for his Indian Wells title defence.
“I just had an MRI on my ankle after yesterday’s injury,” the Spaniard wrote on Instagram. “After the meeting with my doctor and my physiotherapists the diagnosis is a grade II lateral sprain.
“I have a sprain that will keep me out for a few days! See you in Las Vegas and Indian Wells!”
The two-time Grand Slam champion was injured on the second point of his first-round match against Brazilian wild card Thiago Monteiro, his right foot catching in the red clay surface at the Jockey Club Brasileiro.
After falling hard, he limped to his chair, where during a medical timeout a trainer taped up his swollen right ankle. He returned to win the interrupted opening game but after dropping his serve in the second he decided to call it quits.
Alcaraz said in his post-match press conference that physiotherapists had indicated the injury was “not serious” and the further tests on Feb 21 bore that out.
The 20-year-old still intends to play a made-for-Netflix exhibition match on March 3 against 22-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal, hence the message about seeing fans in Las Vegas.
The match at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas will mark Nadal’s return to the court after missing almost a year with injury.
Following that, main draw play begins on March 6 at Indian Wells, where all seeded players have a first-round bye.
Alcaraz routed Russia’s Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-2 to win the title in the California desert last season.
His latest injury comes with Italy’s Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner closing in on his world No. 2 spot.
Alcaraz leads Sinner – who won in Rotterdam on Feb 18 – by just 535 points and has 1,000 points to defend at Indian Wells. AFP
