Elena Rybakina was given an almighty scare last night, as she narrowly navigated her way past Qinwen Zheng in Madrid.
If anything should be taken away from this match, it’s that the Chinese tennis star is still more than capable of competing with the world’s very best, even after her lengthy lay-off through injury.
Alas, the grit, determination, and supreme quality of the world number two proved pivotal, even if the match was marred by some controversy.
After all, mid-way through, Elena Rybakina found herself at odds with the umpire, demanding she overturn a rule that she argued was ‘absolutely wrong’.
Why Elena Rybakina was arguing with the Madrid Open umpire
Having lost the opening set and managed to recover the break in the second set, the match was hanging in the balance as Rybakina sought to engineer a comeback.
However, with Zheng trying to keep the match on serve, she hit one serve down the T that instantly looked dubious.
Rybakina immediately flagged this, and despite exhibiting a mark that was clearly long, the umpire was powerless.
“I can’t go down,” she claimed, due to new rules that force her to stubbornly rely on the technology.
Unsurprisingly, the Kazakhstani did not react well to this admission.
“Are you kidding me?” She began, pointing at a mark that was clearly out. “This is not a joke. The system is wrong. This is not a joke. It is not touching. It is absolutely wrong.”
In the end, the call stood, but Rybakina would go on to win that set and the match anyway.
Elena Rybakina’s unconvincing run in Madrid
This has not been the first scare for the 26-year-old in Madrid, with Rybakina admitting she ‘survived’ her opening round match too.
However, it’s a testament to her mental capacity that she keeps emerging from these matches victorious, having beaten Elena-Gabriela Ruse in three sets, and now Zheng in the same way.
Who wins more Grand Slams in their career – Elena Rybakina or Aryna Sabalenka?
Anastasia Potapova is next up, and Rybakina will be keen to return to the kind of dominant form that saw her win the Stuttgart Open title with relative ease.
It has been far from convincing at the Madrid Open so far, but the fact that she keeps winning speaks volumes for that champion’s mindset.
Rybakina will likely be very hard to stop at Roland Garros this year.
