Elena Rybakina lets rip at her personal coach throughout Cincinnati Open victory

A heated trade between Elena Rybakina and her coach Stefano Vokov created an uncomfortable environment throughout the Kazakh’s second-round win towards Jelena Ostapenko on the Cincinnati Open.

Rybakina had loved the good thing about a bye within the first spherical of the WTA 1000 occasion however discovered the going robust towards Latvian Ostapenko, who fought again from 3-6 down in a tie-break to win the primary set after clinching 5 straight factors.

But world quantity 4 Rybakina is product of stern stuff and turned the competition round, successful the subsequent two units 6-4, 6-4 to safe a spot within the third spherical.

The two-hour and 17-minute triumph noticed Rybakina capitalise on seven of her 12 break factors probabilities and serve 11 aces to take her tally to 392 for the yr – greater than anybody different lady in 2023.

But a uncommon second of spikiness arrived within the second set when Rybakina served at 3-2. Having taken on court docket instruction from Vokov, the 24-year-old knowledgeable her coach: “If I need something I’ll ask.”

The sudden trade together with her Croatian coach didn’t seem to upset her rhythm, nevertheless, as she noticed out a win that takes her general head-to-head report towards Ostapenko to 3-2.

After the match, Rybakina revealed that she had not had excessive expectations for the competition as she had not practised on Cincinnati’s super-fast courts beforehand.

Speaking on-court straight after the match, she mentioned: “Really happy. We always have some tough battles with Jelena. It was not easy. To be honest, it was my first hit today on these courts so I didn’t expect much from this match but really happy that I managed to win in three sets.”

Rybakina shot to prominence after successful the Wimbledon singles title in 2022, however the Kazakh insists that she has loads of work nonetheless to do to attain her profession goals, regardless of being an All England Club champion.

She added: “Yeah, it’s of course a great thing to be a Grand Slam champion but there is a lot for me to improve, a lot of goals so I’m trying not to think about it so much. But of course, it gives confidence for the tournaments.”

Rybakina will face Jasmine Paolini within the Cincinnati Open third spherical on Thursday, after the Italian beat Cristina Bucsa 6-1, 6-3 in spherical two.

Rybakina has received two tour titles this yr and has a 2023 singles report of 38 wins and 10 defeats, incomes her £3.5m in prize cash since January.