With a magnificent performance in the Round of Sixteen duel at the US Open, Marketa Vondrousova went two steps further into glory with a win against the ninth seed. Under the utmost pressure, she managed to put together all the finely-tuned tennis skills to take the match 6-4, 5-7, and 6-2.
Semifinal appearances had already begun to stack up for Rybakina during the US summer hard court season, as she looked solidly set to go on yet another deep plunge into New York. After losing the first set, she found a way to tighten things up in the second with sharper hitting and serving, but Vondrousova hit the third set with a higher gear, breaking her twice again and marching into the next round while being absolutely brutal with her execution of the final three aces of the match. She kept maximum pressure on Rybakina through the middle use of her own aggressive baseline play and court coverage, thereby maintaining her own rhythm.
This success on the night would gain her not only this year's presence in the quarterfinal but also the second quarterfinal in the history of her career at the US Open, the first being in 2023.
After the match, she revealed that this is a very significant victory for her: “It’s been a tough year, but nights like this remind me why I keep working. Elena is such a strong opponent, and I knew I had to stay aggressive and trust my game. I’m just really happy to be back in the quarterfinals here.”
So far, summer hasn't treated her badly, and she certainly will remember this as one of Rybakina's very few disappointing results. Whatever comes from here in New York, one thing is for sure that she is riding tremendous momentum into the near closing stretch of her season.