


Struggled w/ form & health in 2021, took 3wks off to train ahead of #RG21. Rybakina arrived in Paris having lost eight of her previous 13 matches but is yet to drop a set at Roland Garros so far she struck 21 winners and kept her unforced errors to 13 to dismiss Williams 6-3 7-5 in just one hour and 17 minutes.Įlena Rybakina was the hottest player on tour before the shutdown, making the final of 4 of her 1st 5 events in 2020. The bottom half of the women’s draw was already wide open as the fourth round commenced, and with Sunday’s results, it has blown completely apart.Īll four matches on the schedule were won by the lower-ranked player, and one of Pavlyuchenkova, Rybakina, Paula Badosa and Tamara Zidansek will become a first-time Grand Slam finalist. In other results, top-10 stars Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev all advanced to the quarterfinals with straight-sets wins, while Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova continued her giant-killing run with victory over Victoria Azarenka. “After two knee surgeries and over a year of rehabilitation it’s important that I listen to my body and make sure I don’t push myself too quickly on my road to recovery,” Federer said in a statement. Williams fell in straight sets to 21st seed Elena Rybakina after Federer revealed he was taking the precautionary measure following his gruelling four-set win over Dominik Koepfer in the third round, which finished in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Roland Garros lost two of the sport’s biggest superstars on Sunday when Serena Williams lost her fourth-round match and Roger Federer announced his withdrawal.
