Elena Rybakina came back from a set and a break down to beat Naomi Osaka in three sets in their Canadian Open quarter-final.
Four-time Grand Slam winner Osaka had won the first set and was 4-2 up in the second before her Kazakh rival came back to win 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 in two hours and 33 minutes.
“I was just trying to fight,” said Rybakina, whose 72 unforced errors were her most in a match this season.
“The first game was really tough because it cost me the set, and then in the second I was just trying to stay closer to the score, even if I’m losing. I’m super happy that I won this match.”
Japan’s Osaka broke Rybakina in the opening game on the way to claiming the first set in Toronto.
The second set appeared to be going Osaka’s way as, despite having one break retrieved, she broke again to go 4-2 up against the the 2022 Wimbledon and 2026 Australian Open champion.
However, Rybakina took three straight games and won the tie-break to level the match.
Osaka had four break points when she led 3-2 in the decider but failed to take them as Rybakina held and then broke her opponent in the next game.
Rybakina went on to emphatically serve out for the match, sealing victory with a 15th ace and she will play Coco Gauff in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Osaka said she was withdrawing from the Cincinnati Open, the last tournament before the US Open, because of “fatigue”.
Gauff progressed after Belinda Bencic withdrew from their match with a hip injury.
The other semi-final will be between Iga Swiatek, a 6-2 6-1 winner against Diana Shnaider, and Elina Svitolina, who beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 3-6 6-0 6-3.
