Photo credit: Berlin Tennis Open Facebook
The writing was on the wall—and blared bleak Berlin ending for Aryna Sabalenka.
Staring down four match points in the final tiebreaker, Sabalenka flipped the script sparking a rousing revival.
A gutsy Sabalenka fought off four match points surging through the final six straight points to rally past Elena Rybakina 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-6(6) to battle into her first Berlin semifinal.
World No. 1 Sabalenka edged Rybakina for the seventh time in 11 meetings, raising her 2025 record to a WTA-best 42-7.
Continuing her hunt for her maiden grass-court crown, Sabalenka out-dueled the 2022 Wimbledon winner today and will need to beat the 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova tomorrow to reach the final.
In a rematch of the 2023 Wimbledon final, Vondrousova vanquished lucky loser Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-1 breezing through seven of the last eight games.
Sabalenka is 4-3 lifetime vs. former French Open finalist Vondrousova.
In a topsy-turvy two hour, 42-minute clash of Grand Slam champions, Sabalenka scraped out of a dire deficit to turn tiebreaker into heartbreaker for Rybakina.
In a rematch of the 2023 Australian Open final, Sabalenka withstood 14 aces from Rybakina and did not flinch down 2-6 in the decisive tiebreaker.
On Rybakina’s first match point, Sabalenka hit a backhand that crashed into the tape and crawled over. The Belarusian banged a big serve down the T to save the second match point.
A second serve wide set up a backhand crosscourt to erase the third match point before Rybakina squandered the fourth match point sailing a forehand deep.
All the good work Rybakina did building a 6-2 lead in the breaker dissipated as she netted a forehand sitter to gift the Belarusian a match point.
When Rybakina sent a return beyond the baseline, she bounced her Yonex racquet off the turf in disappointment while a smiling Sabalenka celebrated her dramatic comeback.
"Elena, she's a great player and we've had a lot of tough battles," Sabalenka said. "I have no idea how I was able to win those last points. I think I just got lucky, to be honest.
"I remember a long time ago when I was just starting, I won a lot of matches being down match points, and not so long ago, I was thinking that it's been a while since I've made a crazy comeback, and here I am."
Sabalenka said luck and her committment to the cause were keys to this comeback.
"It's amazing to win matches like that," Sabalenka said. "And I'm proud of myself for how I stayed in. I was fighting, I was trying until the very last point."
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Though Sabalenka wilted emotionally and physically in her three-set loss to Coco Gauff in the Roland Garros final, the woman with the Tiger tattoo has roared in tiebreak tension this season. Sabalenka is now 12-1 in tiebreakers in 2025, including winning her last 11 breakers in a row.
The pair traded breaks to open this quarterfinal.
Sabalenka was struggling to land her first serve at the outset and Rybakina exploited the Belarusian’s second serve.
Ripping deep returns down the middle, Rybakina broke at love for a 4-2 lead.
Undaunted, Sabalenka bunted a pass to break right back in the seventh game.
Both major champions threw down strong holds as the set escalated into a tiebreaker.
The Rybakina forehand is a flat shot that can do damage, but also flirts with the tape at times. Rybakina slapped a flat forehand into net then netted a drop volley as Sabalenka surged ahead 5-2 in the breaker.
The US Open champion carved the slider serve for set point at 6-5, but Rybakina hit a heavy serve to save it.
On her second set point, Sabalenka whipped the wide serve to snatch the 56-minute opening set.
World No. 11 Rybakina broke to start the second set then staved off a couple of break points confirming the break for 2-0.
Though Sabalenka broke back to level the set after six games, Rybakina responded with a love break edging ahead 4-3.
That break sparked a three-game surge that saw Rybakina drive a ball into the corner forcing a netted forehand reply. Rybakina snatched the second set on the strength of her fourth break of the day.
In the final set, Sabalenka smacked a backhand crosscourt breaking at love for 5-4.
The top seed served for the semifinal only to see Rybakina crack a biting return right down the middle to break back and level after 10 games. The Kazakh caught a break at 30-all in the following game when her net-cord shot dribbled over helping her hold for 6-5.
Zapping a diagonal forehand, Sabalenka held to force the tiebreaker. Though Rybakina put herself in position for the win at 6-2 in the tiebreaker, Sabalenka stormed back with that six-point spree to repel Rybakina.
Earlier, Xinyu Wang took the opening set 6-1 when opponent Paula Badosa retired sending the Chinese qualifier into her first Berlin semifinal.
The win comes a day after Wang swept Roland Garros champion Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-3 in the second seed’s first match since she stopped Sabalenka in the French Open final.
Meanwhile, Badosa, who has been beleaguered by a chronic back issue, took to social media posting “I’m so tired of this…” after experiencing an apparent recurrence of the back issue.
A red-hot Liudmila Samsonova needed only 57 minutes to thrash American Amanda Anisimova 6-1, 6-1.
Samsonova, who has already defeated four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka and defending champion Jessica Pegula this week, converted five of seven break points. The world No. 20 continues her quest for a third career grass-court title and will face Wang for a spot in Sunday's final.