Elena Rybakina, the top seed at the Porsche, has reached the quarterfinal after defeating Diana Shnaider in the round of 16. She is set to clash with the Canadian star Leylah Fernandez in the next round and has highlighted how she will be preparing to face her next challenge, while expecting a tough battle against the left-handed player.
Elena Rybakina Reflects on Her Mindset Ahead of Her Battle Against Leylah Fernandez at the Stuttgart Open
Rybakina entered the Porsche Arena after delivering impressive performances at the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open. At Indian Wells Tennis Garden, she advanced to the final round after surpassing Hailey Baptiste, Marta Kostyuk, Sonay Kartal, Jessica Pegula, and Elina Svitolina.
She lost the title to World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who also won the Miami Open. At the Hard Rock Stadium, the Russian-Kazakhstani ended her run at the semifinal stage, losing to Sabalenka in straight sets. After which, she is competing at the WTA 500 tournament in Germany.
The 2024 champion surpassed World No. 19, Russian star Diana Shnaider, in the round of 16 with a final scoreline of 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 12 minutes. During her press conference after her dominant performance, Rybakina revealed her mindset ahead of facing the 23-year-old from Montreal, Quebec.
She pointed out that facing Shnaider worked in her favor, since both she and Fernandez share the rare advantage of being left-handed. Furthermore, the World No. 2 expressed that she is anticipating a tough battle against Fernandez. She also shared the areas she needs to focus on while competing in her quarterfinal round.
Rybakina mentioned, “Leylah, we played before, and I think all of the matches were on the hard court, and it’s always been tough matches. She’s, yeah, lefty, it’s good for me that I played against Diana. It was kind of a practice. She’s trying to play fast, take time on the baseline from you. Yeah, it’s gonna be difficult one. Will need to focus a lot on the return, on my serve, as well.”
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After her match against Shnaider, she also shed light on the aspect of competing against a left-handed player, among other things. “I think I started pretty well. Of course on the return, it’s a bit challenging. I would say not only because she’s lefty, just these courts, they are particular, and also I needed time to get used a little bit to the light and just surrounding of the court. But definitely we don’t have so many lefties, so it’s always a bit tricky.”
Before facing Shnaider, Rybakina had also practiced with left-handed doubles star Desirae Krawczyk to better understand court angles. The 2026 Australian Open women’s singles champion has a 2-2 head-to-head against Fernandez ahead of their quarterfinal clash.
