Rybakina overcomes Kawa, second-set dip return to Ningbo semifinals

Elena Rybakina defeated Polina Kudermetova via retirement in her Ningbo opener and followed it up with her first completed match win as World No. 1 on Friday night, overcoming a spirited challenge from Katarzyna Kawa for a 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 quarterfinal victory in 1 hour, 45 minutes.

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The win sends Rybakina to her second straight Ningbo semifinal as she attempts to defend her title. To get there, she had to overcome a second-set dip that allowed Kawa to claw back after a dominant opening set.

"I actually started pretty well," Rybakina said in her on-court interview. "Everything was going in. The serve was working. Then in the second set I dropped a little bit. [There] was not enough energy on the serve, some mistakes here and there, and very cold games. Also, she played really well a few moments, so it changed in the second set pretty quickly.

"But I'm happy that in the third set I stayed aggressive and kept on playing my game."

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Rybakina finished the match much as she began it. After racing to a 3-0 lead in the opening set, the World No. 1 won the first three games of the decider before Kawa got on the board at 3-1. Rybakina then reeled off the final three games to secure her place in the semifinals.

Here were the three keys to Rybakina's third-set turnaround:

Fixing the first (and second) serve: Sometimes the simple answer is the right one. Rybakina landed 83% of her first serves in the opening set and won 87% of those points (13 of 15). She dropped just two points on serve overall in the set.

The second set was a different story. While she still won a respectable 69% of her first-serve points, she landed only 39% of her first serves (13 of 33). Her struggles were compounded by an ineffective second serve, as she won just 25% of those points (5 of 20). She also committed five of her six double faults in the set.

Rybakina righted the ship in the decider, again winning 87% of her first-serve points (13 of 15).

Cutting out errors: Keeping the ball in the court proved critical for Rybakina. She struck 14 winners against just four unforced errors in the opening set, numbers that reflected her control of the match.

The opposite was true in the second set, when she recorded nine winners and 21 unforced errors as Kawa seized momentum. The three-time Grand Slam champion reined things back in during the third, producing six winners and only two unforced errors to regain control and close out the match.

Reclaiming short rallies: Another reason Kawa fought her way back into the contest was her ability to neutralize Rybakina's advantage in short rallies. The players split rallies of four shots or fewer 23-23 in the second set, while Kawa held a slight edge in rallies lasting five to eight shots.

In the third set, however, Rybakina reasserted herself. She won 20 of 26 rallies of four shots or fewer and kept 26 of the set's 34 rallies within that range, paving the way to victory and a semifinal meeting with No. 6 seed Diana Shnaider.

Rybakina holds a 2-0 lead over Shnaider in their WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz head-to-head, winning both meetings in straight sets earlier this year in Stuttgart and Cincinnati.