Elena Rybakina mounts Madrid comeback, scores first win over Yulia Putintseva

Elena Rybakina pulled off an incredible comeback to extend her clay-court win streak at the 2024 Mutua Madrid Open, saving two match points to outlast fellow Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5.

Rybakina had never beaten Putintseva in two previous encounters but roared back from 5-2 down in the final set to deny her rival a first WTA 1000 semifinal and win an eighth straight match (and 30th of the season) in two hours and 48 minutes on Manolo Santana Stadium.

"It was a really tough match," Rybakina said on court. "I knew it wasn't going to be easy, of course. I was hoping I would start the match better but I was having a lot of unforced errors. It was not easy to keep coming back and pushing through, but at 5-2, I already left all the emotions and frustrations to just keep playing. The momentum shifted, Yulia started to be a little bit more angry and some mistakes helped me. I'm really happy."

Rybakina established herself as one of the players to watch this clay-court season when she stormed to the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix title, handing two-time champ Iga Swiatek her first loss in Stuttgart in the semis. The 2022 Wimbledon champion brought that momentum to the Caja Magica, where she took a seven-match winning streak into the quarterfinals with comprehensive wins over Lucia Bronzetti, Mayar Sherif, and Sara Bejlek.

Putintseva proved her most intriguing opposition yet: her countrywoman owned a 2-0 head-to-head—including a clay-court victory at the 2020 Internazionali BNL d’Italia—and has been in the midst of a late-career renaissance since the spring began, reaching the Miami Open quarterfinals and toppling two seeds in Madrid, No. 6 Zheng Qinwen and No. 10 Daria Kasatkina, en route to the last eight.

Madrid had previously been an unlucky place for Putintseva, who revealed to WTA Insider that her luggage was stolen at a hotel when she spent a layover in the city before flying out to the BNP Paribas Open back in March.

A two-time Roland Garros quarterfinalist, Putintseva has done some of her best work on clay, combining her variety and athleticism all in one fiery package, a stark contrast to Rybakina’s famously cool on-court demeanor.

The fireworks were naturally on display from Putintseva from the outset: the former world No. 27 nabbed the first and only break of the opening set, serving out the set to love to put herself in position for the biggest upset of the women’s event thus far.

She appeared on course for a decisive victory when she began the second set with another break advantage, but Rybakina came to life, hitting through Putintseva’s heavy topspin with her flatter ground game to promptly reclaim the break and send the set hurtling towards a tiebreaker.

The Sudden Death saw Rybakina in front throughout, holding onto her the mini-break she grabbed just before the change of ends and breaking Putintseva a second time to level the contest at one set apiece.

Though coach Stefan Vukov shouted instructions from the sidelines, Rybakina proved unable to maintain that momentum as the decider reached its critical phase: Putintseva shook off losing a 15-40 advantage in the fourth game to resume pressuring the No. 4 seed in her very next service game. With coach Matteo Donati and brother Ilya cheering her on, Putintseva outralleid Rybakina on her third break opportunity of the set and consolidated at love off a solid serve.

Down two match points, Rybakina pulled off a brave last stand as nerves began to grip Putintseva inches from the finish line; Rybakina held on and reeled off the next four games, winning eight straight points to break at love and earn three match points of her own.

In one last twist, Putintseva saved all three as Rybakina suddenly tensed up, but Rybakina quickly earned a fourth and converted off one last big serve. Putintseva met Rybakina at net sans racquet, having shattered it after losing a match in which she won more points (114 to 113).

Up next for Rybakina is the winner of the last women's quarterfinal of the week between defending champion Aryna Sabalenka and teen phenom Mirra Andreeva, who made her breakthrough at this tournament last year with a run to the fourth round.