Rybakina Fights Back Again to Beat Osaka, Sets Semifinal with Gauff

It will be a battle of powerful major champions as Elena Rybakina takes on Naomi Osaka for the right to play Coco Gauff in the semifinals. Gauff received a walkover when Belinda Bencic withdrew from their match with a hip injury. 

The doubles quarter-finals will wrap in the afternoon as well before the first semifinal takes place out on the Grandstand.

Follow the live results: 

CENTRE COURT - starts at 07:30 PM

• [4] Coco Gauff (USA) d. [12] Belinda Bencic (SUI) - Walkover
  • Bencic withdrew 30 minutes before the match was scheduled to begin due to a hip injury. “I am really sorry to not be able to compete tonight. This is an amazing tournament and I was really looking forward to playing in front of the great fans here in Toronto. I tried everything possible to be ready for tonight. Looking forward to being back in Toronto next time!” - Bencic
• [2] Elena Rybakina (KAZ) d. [11] Naomi Osaka (JPN) 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4
  • Osaka made a statement early, breaking Rybakina in the opening game and then saving three break points to consolidate. The servers took care of business the rest of the way with no further opportunities to break, delivering the first set to the Japanese. Osaka broke first again in the second, this time in the third game, but Rybakina responded by scoring her first break of the match. The 11^th seed was pressing hard though and made it three consecutive breaks, this time holding to consolidate her lead. Still, the reigning Australian Open champion was not going away quietly and eventually broke back to draw level at four. Rybakina never trailed in the tiebreak, getting an early minibreak, but putting away Osaka proved challenging. The Japanese kept clawing but and drawing level, only for Rybakina to get a lead again. A minibreak at 5-5 proved decisive as the Kazakhstani finished off the set on her own delivery. The turning point came in the sixth game of the decider, when Rybakina saved four break points, coming back from love-40 down to hold. She proceeded to break Osaka in the following game. That was enough as Rybakina hung on to her last two service games to reach the semifinals. 

GRANDSTAND - starts at 04:00 PM

• Tereza Mihalikova (SVK) / Olivia Nicholls (GBR) d. [6] Elise Mertens (BEL) / Diana Shnaider 7-5, 6-4
  • Rhythm was not a word that applied to this match. The two teams combined for 10 breaks of serve on 21 break points across the two sets. The first set was the wilder one, with Mihalikova and Nicholls breaking three times in a row to go up 5-2, only to fail to serve out the set twice and find themselves level at 5-5. They proceeded to break for a fourth time in the 11th game and the third time was the charm to serve it out. They then broke to start the second set, making it five breaks in their last six return games. After both teams missed multiple break-point chances early in the set, Mertens and Shnaider managed to break back to level at 3-3. A late slip ultimately cost them again, though, as they were broken in the ninth game and this time, Mihalikova and Nicholls only needed one chance to serve it out.
• [3] Sara Errani (ITA) / Nicole Melichar-Martinez (USA) d. [5] Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE) / Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) 6-1, 4-6, 10-8
  • Errani and Melichar-Martinez were all over their opponents in the opening set, breaking in every single one of Hsieh and Ostapenko's service games. The only game the fifth seeds managed was a break of their own. They shored things up in the second, saving a break point in the fourth game before breaking to go up 3-2. Even when the third seeds broke back for 4-4, Hsieh and Ostapenko immediately broke again to reclaim their lead before serving out the set. Errani and Melichar-Martinez scored a minibreak on their first return point of the match tiebreak and never trailed. Hsieh and Ostapenko did claw back to even at 8-8, only to for the third seeds to claim the final two points and punch their ticket to the final.

The WTA's best return to Toronto for the National Bank Open presented by Rogers Aug 1 to 13 at Sobeys Stadium. Get your tickets today!

Feature Photo : Mark Blinch/Wick Photography for National Bank Open