By the numbers: Rybakina survives Fernandez in three-hour Stuttgart thriller

Elena Rybakina was pushed to the brink by Leylah Fernandez late Friday night in Stuttgart, but in the end she did what she does best and found a way. The No. 1 seed came from a set down, saved two match points and escaped with a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (6) victory in exactly three hours to reach the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix semifinals.

Stuttgart: Scores | Draws | Order of play

How did she do it? If you find out, let her know.

“I honestly don’t know because nothing really worked,” Rybakina said in her on-court interview. “Especially in the beginning, it was a lot of frustration, and I was just going downhill. The serve was not working, and yeah, somehow, I found some fight in me. Somehow I started to find some momentum, but still, it was a really difficult day.”

The win sends her to the Stuttgart semifinals for the second time, and for the first time since she lifted the trophy in 2024. She’ll face No. 6 seed Mirra Andreeva, who survived her own three-set battle against Iga Swiatek after coming from a set down.

But Andreeva’s path on Friday wasn’t quite as grueling as the one Rybakina endured. With Rybakina’s biggest weapon misfiring for long stretches, Fernandez seized every opening.

The Canadian broke for 3-1 in the first set and, even after Rybakina leveled and forced a tiebreak, held her nerve. Fernandez converted her sixth set point to take the lead, capping a near-flawless set in which she landed 71% of her first serves, won 81% of those points and struck 10 winners to just six unforced errors.

But with margins this tight as they were, any dip in level was going to be significant -- and it was. Fernandez again broke first in the second set and led 4-2, but Rybakina managed to wrestle away the momentum, reeling off four straight games to force a decider.

There, it was the same story, different day, er…set. Fernandez led 4-2 and held a match point serving at 5-4, but Rybakina erased it with a forehand winner, then ripped a backhand winner to grab a second break point and sealed the break with another big forehand for 5-5.

Fernandez earned a second match at 6-5 in the third-set tiebreak, but Rybakina wiped it away with a big-time serve. Two forehand winners later, she was back in the semifinals and Fernandez’s inspired run was over.

Anyways, here are some notable numbers from Rybakina’s clutch win.

3: Wins against Fernandez. They began Friday 2-2. Not anymore. Rybakina now leads the series for the first time since immediately after their first meeting in Doha 2024.

22: Combined break points. 14 for Fernandez, eight for Rybakina. Unfortunately for Fernandez, this is one of those look-away moments. She converted just three of her 14 opportunities, while Rybakina went four-for-eight.

23: Wins this season. Rybakina remains among the tour leaders in match wins and has just four losses in completed matches this year -- two to Aryna Sabalenka and one each to Karolina Muchova and Victoria Mboko.

51: Winners by Rybakina. Now, the asterisk with this one is that she also hit 40 unforced errors, but the timing of her shot making, especially on pressure points, outweighed the miscues. See: match point.

243: Total points played. The funny thing about tennis is that this number, when broken down into who won the most points, doesn’t always tell the full story. Despite long stretches where Fernandez appeared in control, Rybakina won more points overall: 127 to 116.