Aryna Sabalenka saves four match points, survives Elena Rybakina in Berlin quarterfinal

Aryna Sabalenka survived a titanic battle with Elena Rybakina at the Berlin tennis Open on Friday, the world No. 1 saving four match points to edge past her rival, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (6) and reach the semifinals.

Playing her first tournament since her runner-up finish at Roland Garros, Sabalenka has made a strong start to the grass swing and won the final six points to improve her head-to-head with Rybakina to 7-4 after two hours and 42 minutes on Steffi Graf Stadium.

Sabalenka and Rybakina had traded their last four matches, Rybakina winning their most recent meeting at the WTA Finals last fall, but Sabalenka won their only grass-court encounter at Wimbledon back in 2021—a year prior to Rybakina’s title run.

A former world No. 3, Rybakina has posted mixed results in 2025 that have caused her to drop out of the Top 10 for the first time in two and a half years. Her Roland Garros campaign came to a shock end after she squandered a 6-1, 2-0 lead against defending champion Iga Swiatek.

Still, the Russian-born Kazakh is a proven commodity on grass, having reached at least the second week in her last four Wimbledon runs, and was quick out of the gate with a 4-2 lead on Sabalenka.

Sabalenka played her first match after a heartbreaking Paris defeat to Coco Gauff over two days after damp conditions halted her meeting with Rebecca Masarova on Wednesday, but the top seed looked no worse for wear as she eased into the match, forcing a tiebreaker. Despite losing a 5-2 lead, Sabalenka nabbed the first set only to fall behind early in the second.

More momentum swings followed as Rybakina lost her break only to quickly gain it back and roll through the following three games behind some stellar all-court play.

Forced to rely on defense in the face of Rybakina's scintillating offense, Sabalenka showed off her improvement movement and variety as the deciding set got underway, appearing to have finally gotten the match in her control when she broke serve in the ninth game.

But it was Rybakina's turn to force a tiebreaker, breaking Sabalenka as she served for the match and racing ahead 6-2 in the final Sudden Death, four match points in hand.

A final momentum shift came in the form of a netcord winner: a Sabalenka return dribbled over the net and inspired the three-time Grand Slam champion into her best tennis. Reeling off the match's final six points, she flipped the match a final time to reach the semifinals in just under three hours.

Standing between Sabalenka and a spot in the finals will be 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, who won a rematch of her All England Club final against Ons Jabeur earlier in the day.