Milan, Jan. 29 (LaPresse) – Elena Rybakina will be the second finalist at the Australian Open women's tennis tournament, the first Grand Slam event of the season. The Kazakh tennis player of Russian origin, ranked 5th in the world and seeded 5th, defeated American Jessica Pegula, ranked 6th, in the semifinals in two sets with a score of 6-3, 7-6 (7) after 1 hour and 42 minutes of play. The second set was eventful, with Rybakina first squandering three match points at 5-4 and 6-5, then saving two set points for Pegula in the tiebreak, before closing out the match on her fourth match point. In the final, Rubakina will face Sabalenka for the second time, having lost to her in 2023. “I'm very proud of myself, I got a little tense at the end but I stayed there and fought,” said an emotional Rybakina in the heat of the moment.
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