Elena Rybakina has forgotten how to lose.
That, at least, was the impression as the world No 4 from Kazakhstan staged an extraordinary comeback from two match points down to defeat her countrywoman Yulia Putintseva in the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open.
Serving at 2-5, 15-40 in the deciding set, Rybakina looked destined for a first defeat on clay in 16 matches, an impression that deepened when Putintseva, who had tormented Rybakina with her finesse, sent the former Wimbledon champion sprinting forward in pursuit of a heavily undercut drop shot. Somehow, though, Rybakina intercepted the ball at shoelace level to flick an outrageous, improvised winner across the face of the net. With one match point erased, she promptly saved the next with an ace.
Barely a quarter of an hour later, Rybakina completed a 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 victory, her first in three meetings with Putintseva, who obliterated her racket in frustration. Rybakina now has a tour-leading 30 wins this season, including eight in a row following last month’s title run in Stuttgart.
Yet her latest success owed nothing to burgeoning self-belief or a sense of invincibility. It was, she revealed afterwards, the product of an indifference born of physical and mental exhaustion. If Rybakina appeared nerveless on the brink of defeat, it had much to do with the extended format of WTA 1000 events, which now span a fortnight and are all mandatory. Quite simply, the 24-year-old would have welcomed a break before defending her title at next week’s Italian Open.
“I feel very tired,” said Rybakina following her eighth match in 15 days. “[I’m] happy that in the end I pulled through the match and managed to win, but at 5-2 it wasn’t easy. I already was without any emotions, I was just trying to do what I’m supposed to do – and it turned out with a win.”
“I think these tournaments which became so long, it’s not very helpful, I would say, because if you’re fit, you’re fit, you’re going to play every day and the tournament finishes. But you stay in one place for almost two weeks, and it’s not like here you finish and you go rest. You go and you play another mandatory event. That’s definitely not making it easy.
“I was not there with the legs, definitely, in the match. She’s a tough opponent, she’s a fighter, and she was playing well. In the third set it was very quick when I started to lose these three games in a row, 5-2 down, and after I think I didn’t have any more emotions, no frustration, no nothing. I was just going for every point. I was trying to do what I’m supposed to do, and then whatever happens, happens.
“I’m not here to complain. I’m playing and making good money, but I would say that it’s not the best thing when you are kind of without emotions and you’re just like on remote control going to play.
“I wouldn’t say that it’s a good thing… when you are already at the point where you are so tired that at 5-2, you’re just, ‘OK, if I’m going to lose, I’m going to have some vacation, because the next tournament is coming.’”
Of course, the best solution to fatigue is winning in straight sets – something that defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, whom Rybakina will face in the semi-finals, later achieved for the first time at this year’s event. Taken the distance by Magda Linette, Robin Montgomery and Danielle Collins en route to the quarter-finals, Sabalenka produced her best performance so far at the Caja Mágica to see off the Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva 6-1, 6-4 and maintain her pursuit of a third title.
Andreeva, who turned 17 earlier this week, has climbed more than 150 places in the rankings since the pair met for the first time in the Spanish capital last year. Twelve months on, she has underlined her progress with impressive victories over Linda Noskova, Marketa Vondrousova and Jasmine Paolini. Sabalenka posed a challenge of a different order, however, feasting on Andreeva’s predictable service patterns and punishing every short ball.
“I dropped my level a little bit in the past couple of tournaments,” said Sabalenka, “so it was really important for me to get this tough win to feel the confidence again.
“It gives me more belief and I started feeling better on court.”
The Belarusian world No 2 acknowledged Rybakina’s concerns about the length of the tournament, but pointed to the benefit of having a day’s rest between matches.
“Personally, I prefer to have a day off,” said Sabalenka. “Two weeks’ tournament, it’s kind of long, but at the same time I prefer to play the match than have a day off. So for me, physically it’s better. That’s my opinion.”
It is nonetheless a curiosity of the longer tournaments that not every round is followed by a rest day. Rafael Nadal’s loss to Jiri Lehecka on Tuesday night was an obvious case in point. Many questioned why the five-time champion was obliged to play what will probably be his final match on Spanish soil barely 24 hours after overcoming Pedro Cachin in an epic three-hour duel the previous afternoon. It will be intriguing to see how Sabalenka and Rybakina fare in similar circumstances on Thursday night.