Rybakina outlasts Kasatkina in marathon quarterfinal match at National Bank Open

Elena Rybakina prevailed in a back-and-forth marathon match, defeating Daria Kastkina 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 to reach the semi-final of the National Bank Open.

MONTREAL (AP) — Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan outlasted Daria Kasatkina of Russia 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (8) in a National Bank Open quarterfinal that ended Saturday at 2:54 a.m.

With a few hundred hardy fans left, Rybakina finally finished off Kasatkina with an overhand smash on her fifth match point. Rybakina also fended off a match point with an ace to even the tiebreaker at 8.

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“I’ve played three sets, tough battles, but like this, honestly, physically it’s really tough,” Rybakina said on court after the match. “It’s so late. I’ve never played this late. Thank you so much. Hopefully, somehow I can recover for tomorrow.”

After more than six hours of rain delays Thursday and some long matches Friday backed up the schedule, the third-seeded Rybakina and 10th-seeded Kasatkina started play at 11:27 p.m. They finished 3 hours, 27 minutes later.

Rybakina will face 15th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova of Russia in the semifinals. Samsonova beat 12th-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-4, 6-4.

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