Elena Rybakina had everything in her hands in her Montreal semifinal match but once again failed to get over the finish line and she was severely punished by that as Victoria Mboko completed a 1-6 7-5 7-6 (4) upset win.
After easily winning the first set, the 2022 Wimbledon champion started struggling on her serve and she lost the second set after dropping her serve three times.
At the start of the third set, Rybakina stabilized on her serve and even opened a 5-3 lead. Then, the Kazakh failed to serve out for the match at 5-4 - had a chance to also serve out for the match at 6-5 - but once again wasn't successful. After forcing a third-set tie-break, Mboko won three points in a row from 4-4 to seal the win after nearly three hours of play.
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In the Montreal final, Mboko will play against Naomi Osaka, who defeated Clara Tauson. It will be their first meeting.
Another stunning collapse by Rybakina
On June 1st, Rybakina was 6-1 2-0 up against Iga Swiatek in the French Open round-of-16 before the Pole stormed back to win 1-6 6-3 7-5. 20 days later, the Kazakh led 6-2 in the third-set tie-break of her Stuttgart quarterfinal against Aryna Sabalenka, but the Belarusian saved four consecutive match points to win 7-6 (6) 3-6 7-6 (6). 12 days ago in Washington, the former world No. 3 was 7-6 (2) 5-3 up against Leylah Fernandez in the Washington semifinal before the Canadian completed a shock 6-7 (2) 7-6 (3) 7-6 (3) comeback.
Now, the same happened to Rybakina in Montreal.
Well, of course, I knew that she's tough opponent. It's very often when some players, they need just time to get back to get used to the shots also of mine. I felt like when first set was close in each game, so I didn't start well from the beginning, and there, of course, where things changed around," Rybakina said after the Mboko loss.
