No. 1 seed Elena Rybakina survived a scare from qualifier Katie Volynets to open her Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open title defense, advancing to the quarterfinals 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in 2 hours and 27 minutes.

Abu Dhabi: Draws | Scores | Order of play | 411

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Rybakina, who had a first-round bye, is bidding to successfully defend a title for the first time in her career this week. She was competing for the first time since her fourth-round loss at the Australian Open to eventual champion Madison Keys. 

The 2022 Wimbledon champion had defeated Volynets 6-4, 6-0 in their only previous meeting, in the second round of Roland Garros 2022. However, the rematch saw the American come within two games of an upset in the second set thanks to her grit and consistency. Rybakina pulled away in the third set, advancing to 5-2, but still had to hold off one last charge by Volynets to seal victory.

Keys to the match: In a first set that was more tightly contested than the scoreline suggests, Volynets was able to execute her tactics more effectively on big points. All but one game featured at least one break point, but it was the World No.68 who blended stellar defensive play and judicious moments of aggression. Rybakina, landing only 48% of her first serves, committed 25 unforced errors as the set rapidly got away from her.

The serve was the most crucial area of improvement for Rybakina. With a first serve percentage up to 62% in the second set, she did not face a single break point during it. Volynets' level remained high, but towards the end of the set Rybakina was able to strike on return, triumphing in a handful of longer exchanges for the first time and capturing the only break of the set in the final game.

Rybakina took her momentum and strong serving into the decider, facing only one break point as she powered to a 5-2 lead. Though she lapsed into error when serving for the match, she was quick to right the ship. Volynets held two points to level at 5-5, but Rybakina found four clean winners in the final game to deny her a first Top 5 win.

Head to Head

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marketa vondrousova
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CZE
More Head to Head

25% Win 1
- Matches Played

75% Win 3

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belinda bencic
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SUI

Vondrousova, Bencic set Olympic rematch in quarterfinals: Earlier, two wild cards, 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova and 2023 Abu Dhabi winner Belinda Bencic set a quarterfinal meeting after straight-sets victories. Vondrousova, playing the second tournament of her comeback from shoulder surgery last year, defeated No. 4 seed Yulia Putintseva 6-2, 6-3 in 1 hour and 18 minutes.

Bencic's win was even more emphatic. The Swiss player, who returned from maternity leave last October and is now ranked No. 157, whitewashed lucky loser Veronika Kudermetova 6-0, 6-0 in just 64 minutes. The pair had enjoyed a tightly-contested prior rivalry -- six of their nine previous meetings had gone the distance, and Bencic had won 11 sets to Kudermetova's 10. However, this time Bencic faced game point just twice, in the third game of each set.

The result was Bencic's second 6-0, 6-0 victory at tour level following her first-round defeat of Xu Yifan at Tokyo 2015. It was the first 6-0, 6-0 loss of Kudermetova's career at any pro level.

Vondrousova and Bencic's quarterfinal will be a rematch of the Tokyo Olympic Games final in 2021, which Bencic won 7-5, 2-6, 6-3. Bencic leads the overall head-to-head 2-1.

Vondrousova bests Putintseva, makes first quarterfinal of comeback