A last-minute shake-up to the draw did little to spoil Elena Rybakina’s 26th birthday at the Berlin Tennis Open.
The 2022 Wimbledon champion had been slated to play No. 5 seed Zheng Qinwen in the opening round, but found herself facing lucky loser Krueger on Tuesday instead after Zheng withdrew in the early hours of the day with a neck injury. Having lost to Krueger earlier this year in Miami, Rybakina was under no such threat on German grass and came through the win 6-3, 7-6(3) in 1 hour and 36 minutes.
Berlin: Draws | Scores | Order of play
After saving two break points in the opening game, Rybakina raced out to a 4-0 lead and had two points for 5-0 before Krueger got on the board. In set two, the American pulled herself level from an early 3-1 deficit and kept the pressure on by continuing to hold serve to stay ahead. However, she couldn’t find a foothold on return — the closest she came to a break point in Rybakina’s last three service games was 30-30 at 3-3 — and the Kazakh won four straight points from 2-2 in the eventual tiebreak to take the match.
“It was a really tough match, especially the second set,” Rybakina said afterwards. “It was very close and I had some chances, didn’t take them, but I’m happy with how I played the tiebreak. It was a good present for myself!
“I tried to play point by point. She started to serve really well in the second set, so I knew that I needed to focus on my serve and take the chances as soon as I got them.”
Before Rybakina enacted her revenge on Krueger, another rematch was also on the cards. Diana Shnaider defeated Donna Vekic in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 in the pair’s third career meeting — and second on German grass.
Though Shnaider beat Vekic to win the title in Bad Homburg last summer, she came out on the losing end in a three-set epic against Vekic at the Australian Open in January.
Rybakina advances to face Czech Katerina Siniakova, while Shnaider will face former Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova, who upset No. 7 seed Madison Keys.
