Elena Rybakina continues her incredible form and has begun her Qatar Open campaign with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Lin Zhu to reach the Last 16 in Doha. She has been utterly sublime in the past week and unlike Daria Kasatkina who failed after returning from Abu Dhabi, an extra day off seemed to do the trick.
Rybakina likes the conditions in the Middle East and never looked troubled against the Chinese star. With her aggression and being prone to errors a lot more as a result and having to battle from the baseline was always going to be the issue as Rybakina breezed through the opening set 6-2. Outside of playing bad at the Australian Open which can be slightly down to playing two weeks prior also, Rybakina has alongside Jelena Ostapenko took a march in winning titles outside of the Grand Slams this year.
In some of her best form, she was even more impressive in the second set in six minutes less than the first. Rybakina finished with seven aces and only lost three points behind her first serve as she she blasted through 6-1. She did not face a single break point the entire match and converted four out of seven. In the end, it was a 6-2, 6-1 win and next is Emma Navarro.
Elena Rybakina defeats Lin Zhu in Doha to clinch her 15th consecutive win after claiming the first set. 🇰🇿