St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, Russia

[7] Caroline Garcia (FRA) vs. [450] Elena Rybakina (RUS)

The eighteen year old Russian got off to a blazing start. She had nothing to lose and played with the enthusiastic abandon of the young. She broke Garcia in her first service game to take a 2-0 lead; however, she was unable to consolidate the break and would lose her serve again to give Garcia the lead. Rybakina has a big serve and a ferocious forehand; however, she is hampered by her limited mobility and Garcia was able to exploit that in the first set.

The second set started off identically to the first with the young Russian breaking early to take a 2-0 lead.  As in the first set, she could not consolidate and Garcia broke back to get back on serve.  As the set progressed Rybakina appeared fatigued and somewhat frustrated by the errors she was making. Mentally, the advantage went to the more experienced player and Garcia broke to take a 5-4 lead.

Garcia served for the match at 5-4; however, Rybakina was not discouraged and kept the pressure on. On her second break point opportunity she broke to get back on serve. Suddenly, the teenager found a new level to her game and Garcia was frazzled. Once again, Garcia had a lead (4-0), this time in the tiebreak; yet, somehow she lost the second set.

Undaunted by the score and her opponent, the Russian teenager just kept going for her shots, much to the frustration of her opponent. She broke early again in the third set, but could not consolidate. Pumped up by the crowd, the Russian continued her attacking style of play and perhaps that cost her from winning the third set 6-4; however, she regrouped in time to win the third set tiebreak and the match 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(5).

SOURCE OF IMAGE:  Zimbio.com (Abbie Parr/Getty Images North America: Elena Rybakina)