Elena Rybakina reaches Australian Open 4th round: Decoding the stats
What's the story
Elena Rybakina has made it to the fourth round of the Australian Open 2025, after a thrilling win over Dayana Yastremska. The match, played at John Cain Arena on Saturday, January 18, saw Rybakina win with a scoreline of 6-3, 6-4. Despite sustaining an injury that forced a medical timeout in the first set, she kept her cool and outperformed her Ukrainian opponent. Rybakina will hope to make it count from here.
Strategy
Rybakina's aggressive gameplay secures victory
Rybakina clinched the first set by breaking Yastremska in the fourth game and closing it at 6-3. The second set witnessed a resilient Yastremska break Rybakina early in the second game, only for Rybakina to retaliate with a break point in the next game. She then broke Yastremska again in the fifth game, taking control of the match. Despite her injury, Rybakina's ultra-aggressive gameplay proved instrumental in her victory over Yastremska.
Details
Match stats and Rybakina's record at Slams
Rybakina doled out two aces compared to five from Yastremska. However, Rybakina committed two double faults with the latter committing a high 8. Rybakina had a 76% win on the 1st serve and a 64% win on the 2nd. She converted 3/11 break points. Rybakina owns a 51-18 win-loss record at Grand Slams. Her win-loss tally at AO reads 14-5. The 2022 Wimbledon winner has reached the AO 4th round for the 2nd time in her career (finalist in 2023).
Post-match reflections
Rybakina reflects on challenging match
Following her win, Rybakina acknowledged the difficulty she faced due to her injury. "Well, honestly, I didn't know how it's going to go because it came out the facade and I didn't expect, and of course it was not easy," she said during an on-court interview after the game. She further admitted that she had to adopt a more aggressive approach in order to stay competitive in the match.
Tournament progress
Other players advance to the 4th round
In other matches, Daria Kasatkina also booked her spot in the fourth round by defeating Yulia Putintseva 7-5, 6-1 at Show Court Arena. Eva Lys staged a remarkable comeback against Jaqueline Cristian after losing the first set at Court 3. The German player won the next two sets 6-3, 6-3 after an initial setback of 4-6 in the first set, booking her spot in the next round.