Rybakina dominates Mboko in Tokyo and secures her spot at the WTA Finals

Kazakh Elena Rybakina, the second seed, won against Canadian Victoria Mboko, the No 9 seed, 6-3, 7-6 (4) to advance to the last 4 of the Tokyo Open at the Ariake Coliseum on Friday morning.

The match was closely contested, especially in the second set where Mboko raised her level and forced a tiebreak. Rybakina, however, held her nerve, eked out the decisive points, and avoided a decider. She later reflected that both players served strongly and that edging the tiebreak was key to the win.

“It was a very difficult match against Victoria — the last time, it was the same battle,” Rybakina said afterwards. “I’m very happy that today I managed to win in two sets. In the second set, we were  going so close, both serving really well, so I’m glad that I could push a little bit more in the tiebreak and win in two sets.

“I’m happy that my serve was working pretty well … on the return, I was trying to move a bit position, but again she was serving so well that it was really difficult. Even when I caught the ball on the racquet, it was still too hard to put it in. It was a very tough, very close match, but I’m happy with the result.”

With that victory, the 2022 Wimbledon champion secured the final spot for the WTA Finals in Riyadh.

Rybakina, ranked No 7, will face Czech Linda Noskova, the No 6 seed, next.

The Kazakh defeated Canadian Leylah Fernandez (6-4, 6-3) in the previous round of the Tokyo tournament.

In the previous rounds of the Tokyo tournament, Mboko, ranked No 24, beat German qualifier Eva Lys (6-1, 6-1) and wildcard Bianca Andreescu (6-3, 6-3).

Tokyo WTA 500, other last eight results (Ariake Coliseum, hard, USD 1.064.510, most recent results first):

• Belinda Bencic vs. Karolina Muchova
• Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Sofia Kenin
• Linda Noskova beat Anna Kalinskaya: 6-0, 1-0 ret.