Rybakina survives Boisson scare to advance at Wimbledon, notch 300th WTA Tour win

Elena Rybakina was pushed to a decider by a motivated Lois Boisson in her Wimbledon opener Tuesday, but a late break paved the way for a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 victory in 1 hour, 48 minutes and a place in the second round. It also marked her 300th WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz match win.

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The 2022 champion improved to 6-0 in first-round matches at Wimbledon. It was just the second time she has dropped a set in her opener, having also done so against Shelby Rogers in 2023.

"It was a really difficult match," Rybakina said in her on-court interview. " I'm also not coming from too many wins (recently), so I really had to fight. Hopefully the next round is going to be better. I need to improve quite a lot, but I'm happy to get another opportunity."

With the win, she became one of four players to reach the second round at Wimbledon in each of the past six editions, joining Iga Swiatek -- who survived her own scare against Taylor Townsend earlier Tuesday -- Barbora Krejcikova and Elise Mertens.

Rybakina is undefeated in her last 14 Grand Slam opening rounds overall, last losing to Clara Burel at the 2022 US Open. She avoided ending that streak at the hands of another Frenchwoman in Boisson.

The highlights

After Rybakina claimed a tight first set, Boisson took control in the second. She built a 4-1 lead before taking a medical timeout for treatment on her left leg. If the issues lingered, she did her best not to show it, taking the final two games to force a decider.

Rybakina opened the third set with a statement, firing an ace that marked the start of a love hold. She added a forehand winner to secure her next service game for 2-1 before Boisson answered to level at 2-all. Rybakina then fought off two break points and ripped a forehand winner down the line to hold for 3-2.

Boisson responded again, saving a pair of break points before finding the line on a forehand winner and punctuating the hold with an ace to level at 3-all.

But it wasn't to be for the Frenchwoman, who despite the loss proved she may just have the chops for grass after all. Rybakina rolled through another love hold, then converted her third break point for 5-3 to give herself a chance to serve out the match. A forehand winner delivered the lone match point she needed to seal her place in the second round.

"She was playing quite high, I would say, for a grass court," Rybakina said in her post-match press conference. "For me, it was difficult to actually adjust to these higher balls. And then getting short slices was a bit challenging. In the end, I'm happy that I managed to win it. I definitely will need to work more on these kinds of things."

What's next

The World No. 2 will face Caty McNally next. They are 1-1 head-to-head, with McNally's win coming five years ago on Charleston clay, where Rybakina retired after dropping the opening set. In their most recent meeting in Beijing last year, Rybakina prevailed in a tight three-setter.

This will be their first meeting on grass.