Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina suffers shock defeat against Donna Vekic in Berlin

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Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina suffered a shock 6-7 (1) 6-3 6-4 defeat to Donna Vekic at the WTA Bett1Open in Berlin. </p>

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Rybakina, the tournament's second seed, was on the back of a nine-match unbeaten run - with eight of those victories having come on grass - as she warms up for the defence of her title at the All England Club next month. </p>

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The world number three looked to have put herself on course for the quarter-finals after taking the opening set on a tie-break. </p>

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However, Vekic fought back with a break of Rybakina's serve in the sixth game of the second set to go on and level the match. </p>

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With the decider locked at 3-3, Vekic secured another crucial break before going on to serve out for victory in just over two hours and 15 minutes. </p>

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"I'm really happy to not only beat her, but to be in the quarter-finals," world number 23 Vekic said afterwards, quoted on the WTA Tour website. </p>

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"She was serving really big, so I was like: 'just stay with her, your chances will come' and they did." </p>

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Vekic will next face lucky loser Elina Avanesyan, who came back to defeat Anna Blinkova in three sets, 1-6 6-2 6-3. </p>

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Earlier on Wednesday, Aliaksandra Sasnovich upset former world number one Victoria Azarenka in their rain-delayed first-round match to progress 6-4 6-4. </p>

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Sixth seed Maria Sakkari beat Alize Cornet 6-4 6-2 and Marketa Vondrousova saw off 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu 7-6 (0) 7-5. </p>

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Veronika Kudermetova secured a showdown against top seed Aryna Sabalenka after she won through 6-4 6-2 against Zheng Qinwen. </p>

<p>The article <a href="https://www.planetsport.com/tennis/news/wimbledon-champion-elena-rybakina-suffers-shock-defeat-donna-vekic-berlin">Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina suffers shock defeat against Donna Vekic in Berlin </a> appeared first on Planetsport.com.</p>