Rybakina rallies past Badosa, Potapova upsets Gauff in Miami

27 March, 2023

INDIAN WELLS       -        Elena Rybakina kept her ‘Sunshine Double’ hopes alive as she battled from the brink to beat Paul Badosa in the Miami Open third round, while Russian Anastasia Potapova upset Coco Gauff in three sets.

Wimbledon champion Rybakina calmly saved a match point on serve in the second set and fired 60 winners, including a dozen aces, as she earned a gutsy 3-6 7-5 6-3 win. Rybakina struggled to find her rhythm on serve in the opening set but wrestled back momentum in the second. After being broken four times in the first set, Rybakina held her serve in all but one game in the remainder of the contest and confidently closed out victory in two hours and 31 minutes. Russian 27th seed Potapova produced some of her best tennis to see off world number six Gauff in a 6-7(8) 7-5 6-2 win and set up a meeting with China’s Zheng Qinwen. Potapova mounted a stout defense to fend off 10 of 13 break points and grinned widely as she fired down an unreturnable serve to secure the win. Up 5-2 in the first set, it looked as though it might be an easy day for Potapova.

Civil society delegation meets MQM leadership, calls for election framework

But Gauff turned the tables when she converted break point chances in the ninth and 11th games and closed the tiebreak with a lethal backhand. Potapova regained her composure in the second set and pummeled her opponent with her mighty forehand as she broke serve in the penultimate game and dropped only one firstserve point as she won the final five games. Jessica Pegula made quick work of her fellow American Danielle Collins 6-1 7-6(0). She will meet Polish 20th seed Magda Linette for a place in the quarter-finals. On the men’s side, Indian Wells runner-up Daniil Medvedev breezed past Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena 6-1 6-2 in just over an hour to reach the third round, where he will face Alex Molcan of Slovakia. In his first match since Carlos Alcaraz snapped his 19-match winning run, Medvedev barely broke a sweat as he hit 18 winners to Carballes Baena’s five in a dominant victory