Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula both pulled of Australian Open quarter-final upsets, knocking out higher seeds Iga Swiatek and Amanda Anisimova respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Second seed Swiatek, who has never won the Australian Open title – the only Grand Slam she has left to lift – was defeated 7-5 6-1 by sixth seed Rybakina as the latter took advantage of an error-filled effort by Swiatek.<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old Pole committed 25 unforced errors while hitting just 10 winners. Rybakina, 26, had a steadier ground game with 25 winners and 19 unforced errors.<\/p>\n
“I’m really \u200cpleased with the win,” Rybakina said in her on-court interview. “We know each \u2060other pretty well, and I was just trying to stay aggressive.<\/p>\n
Twitter<\/p>\n
This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a> “In the \u200cfirst set, the first serve wasn’t working for both of us, so we were trying \u200dto step in on the second serve and put pressure on each other.<\/p>\n “In the second set, I just started to play more free, serve better, and I’m really happy with the win.”<\/p>\n Rybakina is through to a major semi-final for the first time since she reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2024. She has made two career Grand Slam finals, prevailing at Wimbledon in 2022 and \u200blosing the Australian Open title match in 2023.<\/p>\n After Swiatek and Rybakina exchanged service breaks in the opening two games, Rybakina saved three break points at 1-1, then broke serve in the 12th game to take the set.<\/p>\n Rybakina won the first three games of the \u200dsecond set and cruised to the finish, never facing a break point in the set.<\/p>\n Twitter<\/p>\n This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a> Pegula stuns fellow American Anisimova to make Open Era history<\/p>\n Sixth seed Pegula, meanwhile, stunned fellow American and two-time Grand Slam finalist Anisimova – the fourth seed – to clinch her place in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n The 31-year-old Buffalo native made history while beating Anisimova 6-2 7-6 (7-1), becoming the first woman in the Open Era (since 1968) to reach her first three major semi-finals after turning 30.<\/p>\n After Pegula cruised through the first set against 24-year-old Anisimova, neither \u200bplayer broke serve through the first seven games of the second set.<\/p>\n Twitter<\/p>\n This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a> Anisimova got \u200bthe break to go up 5-3, but she couldn’t serve out the set as Pegula broke back. After another break by Pegula \u200dfor a 6-5 edge, Anisimova responded in kind to force a tiebreaker.<\/p>\n Anisimova won the opening point of the tiebreaker before Pegula reeled off seven straight points to advance.<\/p>\n Pegula said: “I was like, ‘It’s got to be \u200ccoming, you know. The next round, I’ve got to get to the semi,’ because I feel like I play some really good tennis here \u200cand I like the conditions.<\/p>\n “And I’ve always felt like, even matches I’ve lost here, that I’ve played well. So I’ve been waiting for the \u200btime where I could kind of break through.”<\/p>\n Twitter<\/p>\n This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a> Pegula and Rybakina have split six career matches, with the Kazakhstani player having taken their latest clash in WTA Finals last fall.<\/p>\n A win by Pegula on Thursday would send \u200dher to her second career major final.<\/p>\n Watch the ATP and WTA Tours, live on Sky Sports or stream with NOW<\/a> and the Sky Sports app<\/a>, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula both pulled of Australian Open quarter-final upsets, knocking out higher seeds Iga Swiatek…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[79,1068,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-728652","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115978634726989561","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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