Last year’s ‘Wimbledon Queen’ Elena Rivakina (24, Kazakhstan). The Russian-born is one step closer to her second Grand Slam title.
World No. 25 Rivakina in the 2023 Australian Open (AO) women’s singles quarterfinals held at Melbourne Park on the 24th, she defeated 17th place Yelena Ostapenko (25, Latvia) 2-0 (6-2, 6-4). Completely defeated and settled in the quarterfinals. His best performance in the women’s singles at the Australian Open was advancing to the third round (Round of 32) in 2020.
It was a stroke showdown full of power with each other, but Rivakina showed an advantage in precision against Ostapenko, who had greatly increased in weight compared to her past, and finished the match in 1 hour and 19 minutes. Rivakina, who is 1m84 tall, showed an overwhelming 11-1 advantage in the serve ace, and the maximum speed of the serve reached 190 km per hour. Winner also outnumbered him at 24-19.
“I am so happy to be in the semifinals for the first time,” said Rivakina after the game, which overwhelmed Ostapenko, the Roland Garros women’s singles champion in 2017. In the round of 16, he beat No. 1 seed Iga Sibiong Tech (21, Poland), a three-time Grand Slam champion, 2-0 (6-4, 6-4) and gained momentum.
Rivakina changed her nationality to Kazakhstan in 2018 after promising financial support. She holds the record for winning the WTA Tour women’s singles three times.
Rivakina’s opponent in the quarterfinals is the winner of the quarterfinals between Jessica Pegula (28, USA), 3rd in the rankings, and Victoria Azarenka (33, Russia), 24th.