At 2:55 a.m. and 20 breaks of serve later, Elena Rybakina finishes off Daria Kasatkina in Montreal epic

Montreal’s Omnium National Bank finally completed its semifinal lineup at 2:55 a.m. local time Saturday on a packed day of play.

Third seed Elena Rybakina fought past 10th-seeded Daria Kasatkina, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (8), in a clash that had it all: 20 breaks of serve, the Russian missing an opportunity to serve out the match in both the second and third sets and Rybakina saving a match point after nearly seeing a final-set tiebreaker slip through her fingertips.

“Hopefully somehow I can recover for tomorrow,” said Rybakina on court with the understatement of the evening, or should we say morning.

Kasatkina initially led by a set and 3-1, before dropping her serve in a stretch that saw the returner claim five successive games. At 5-4, Kasatkina was two points from closing out the 2022 Wimbledon champion on three occasions. After Rybakina ensured play would carry on, she was pushed to deuce before putting a hold on the board—then made it six breaks in seven games to level the encounter.

The Kazakh looked to be well on her way when she built a 3-0 lead in the deciding set. But Kasatkina refused to back down, with a hold at 15 to end her serving woes igniting another swing in momentum. She worked her way back to even terms, and extended the impressive turnaround by breaking from 40-0 down in a 14-point game to move ahead 4-3 by reading her opponent’s move towards the net.

Kasatkina couldn’t consolidate, though brushed it off. A loose game from Rybakina that wrapped with two errant forehands aided in her opponent putting the match on her racquet for a second time. After coming within two points of victory once again, Kasatkina double-faulted to confirm a decisive tie-break.

No one watching expected anything but a rollercoaster finish here. Though Rybakina moved ahead 6-3, Kasatkina brought it back to 6-6, saving the third match point by running around to hit a forehand inside-in return winner off Rybakina’s second serve.

Showing tremendous heart, Kasatkina’s hustle was rewarded in denying Rybakina a fourth match point at 6-7 and leading to a long-awaited match point of her own. Rybakina quickly erased it with an unreturnable serve out wide for 8-8 and at last shut the door when her powerful hitting led to a closing overhead finish.

“Honestly, physically it’s really tough. I never played that late,” shared Rybakina before thanking those who stuck around until the end.

Rybakina has now advanced to four WTA 1000 semifinals this season and won the prior three. She went on to taste victory at Indian Wells and Rome, whilst finishing runner-up in Miami. Before this week, the 24-year-old was just 1-2 at Canada’s biggest tennis event that showcases women and men alternating cities each year between Montreal and Toronto.

Liudmila Samsonova, who had a taxing day herself in pulling double duty to defeat Aryna Sabalenka and Belinda Bencic, awaits.

Five of the six singles matches that began Friday went the distance, with two third-round encounters forced to kick off the day after Thursday’s weather woes.