By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Photo: Cameron Spencer/Getty
Thinking ahead helped Elena Rybakina reach a milestone in Melbourne today.
Rybakina cruised through the first seven games causing a 6-0, 6-3 dismissal of the 17-year-old American. Iva Jovic to advance to the third round of the Australian Open.
This is Rybakina’s 50th Grand Slam main draw victory and she needed just 80 minutes to find the finish line against the youngest woman on the singles court.
“I started really well and I think for her she needs a little more time to get used to the speed,” Rybakina said afterwards. “I started very well and struggled a bit in the second set.
“But so glad I got through another one.”
The 6th Rybakina has joined the compatriot Julia Putintseva as the second woman from Kazakhstan to reach the third round of the AO. 24th seed Putintseva beat Shuai Zhang 6-2, 6-1 in today’s second round.
A cloud of controversy swirled around Rybakina’s coaching situation as she arrived in Melbourne last week. Rybakina began working with the former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanishević in the offseason, but announced her plan to reunite with her former coach Stefano Vukov earlier this month.
However, Vukov is currently serving a WTA suspension and was not granted an AO credential.
Rybakina put her power play on the training controversy with a dynamic performance. Through two rounds, Rybakina has lost only five games.
Coach Goran has been working on Rybakina’s transition game and it showed today: She won 12 of 15 trips to the net and nearly tripled Jovic’s winners total (29 to 10).
“He’s a fun guy and of course we didn’t know each other that well before, so we need some time to get used to (each other),” Rybakina said of Ivanisevic. “But he’s fun – just looking forward to getting some titles with him.
“If I can serve better, that’s even better. Always, I have to work on my ministry. I think it is still possible to make some improvements. Today I think my serve wasn’t working very well, so hopefully I can improve it for the next match.”
Today, the 2022 Wimbledon winner played a near perfect first set hitting 18 winners – 15 more than the AO debutant.
The shots flowed like all the right answers in an exam as Rybakina rattled off seven straight games.
Credit the talented Jovic for trying to get back into the match. Jovic fought back from four break points in the physically punishing second game of the second set to finally get on the board.
That difficult catch helped the world number 191 free her arm and get some cracks in her discs. Jovic immediately broke to push her lead to 3-1.
When she’s on her game, Rybakina is an immaculate puck attacker. Rybakina is more comfortable hitting with her cross arm, but she can explode with two hands anywhere and shut down some backhands at the line to make it five games in a row.
The wild card’s second double fault gave Rybakina a break point in the eighth game. Jovic hit a shallow second serve and Rybakina lobbed a backhand winner down the backline to break for a set, 5-3 lead.
Rybakina threw away a heavy serve to convert her second match point and book her return to the third round against Dayana Yastremska.
AO 2024 semifinalist Yastremska won 11 of 14 second-serve points in a 6-0, 6-1 demolition of Danka Kovinic that lasted just 51 minutes.
Yastremska has lost just six games in two rounds and will face Rybakina for the first time
