Rybakina reaches Brisbane semifinals after Potapova retires

Elena Rybakina needed just one set to book her place in the semifinals of the Brisbane International.

The No.2 seed moved through to the final four after just 32 minutes on Friday when Anastasia Potapova retired with a left abdominal injury after losing the first set 6-1. 

Rybakina will face No.40 Linda Noskova on Saturday.

How it ended: Potapova received a medical timeout at 4-1 down after a hotly contested first five games.

The first three games went with serve before Rybakina broke for 3-1 after Potapova led 40-15. In the next game, the Kazakh held from 0-40. On the ensuing changeover, she laid on the court as the physio attended to her abdomen region.

No.11 seed Potapova came into the match having played 6 hours and 18 minutes of tennis across two rounds in wins over Aussie wild card Daria Saville (2 hours, 52 minutes) and No.9 seed Veronika Kudermetova (3 hours, 26 minutes). 

Rybakina speaks: "I wish Anastasia a speedy recovery, because she had a really tough battle yesterday [against Kudermetova]," Rybakina said afterward. "I'm just happy I get to play another match, but definitely not the way I wanted to win."

Rybakina hit 12 winners in seven games in the abridged victory. In three matches so far in Queensland, the World No.4 has lost just seven games in five sets. 

Noskova wins teen battle: Rybakina will face 19-year-old Noskova in the semifinals. Noskova came through the all-teenage battle with 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva, winning 7-5, 6-3. It was the first quarterfinal between teenagers at a WTA 500-level tournament or higher since Caroline Wozniacki faced Melanie Oudin at the 2009 US Open.

In their first tour-level meeting, Noskova's baseline power game proved too much for Andreeva's court craft. Andreeva came into the match having not lost a set in Brisbane, notching wins over Diana Shnaider, Liudmila Samsonova, and Arina Rodionova.

Noskova had endured a much tougher path. Her first three matches of the season had gone the distance in Brisbane, including a match-point-saving effort against Timea Babos in the first round. 

Both players struggled to hold serve throughout the 1-hour and 40-minute match, but with Andreeva landing less than 50 percent of her first serves, Noskova held the edge on return. Noskova's persistent pressure earned her four breaks of serve in the first set, with the last break coming after Andreeva struck her fourth double fault to hand over the set.

Andreeva broke first in the second set but once again her serve did not hold up against Noskova's return. The Czech broke back immediately and did not face a break point for the remainder of the match. She broke serve once again to open a 4-2 lead and closed out the win three games later. 

Noskova finished with 32 winners to 21 unforced errors. Andreeva struck 15 winners to 17 unforced errors.