Elena Rybakina quells late night comeback from Bianca Andreescu in bumper Madrid Open battle

Elena Rybakina took her spot in the third round of the Madrid Open but not without a fight from her opponent Bianca Andreescu who is back in her second tournament after most of the past season out.

Rybakina took one hour and 17 minutes to defeat the former US Open champion 6-3, 6-2 in a superb win for the former Wimbledon champion. She is now 3-0 in Head to Head against Andreescu.

Rybakina earlier this week fell out of the top 10 for the first time since January 2023. She is currently ranked World No.11 and will likely fall further if she doesn't defend her run to the semi-final. She had a superb 2024 on clay winning Stuttgart and having runs in Madrid and Roland Garros so it was always going to be a tough act to follow.

Andreescu tried to dictate the play as much as she could throughout but it was Rybakina who took charge despite having markably more unforced errors with 16 compared to eight winners. But she still managed to control a lot more than Andreescu.

She never let the Canadian have a look at a break. She faced only three break points all in the second set and she swatted them away. She won 80% of points on the first serve and despite Andreescu testing her in that second it proved to be in vain as Rybakina won through to set up a clash with Elina Svitolina. The Ukrainian is 3-2 down on Head-to-Head, they are 1-1 on clay.

Andreescu on the otherhand will take solace that she can compete with the best still after so long out. She moves onto Rome and Roland Garros with much more of a pep in her step than a few months back after an emergency appendectomy surgery in February.