Wimbledon: Rybakina dismantles Boulter in under an hour

The last remaining British player across both singles draws was sent home in emphatic fashion on day six of Wimbledon 2023, as Elena Rybakina defeated Katie Boulter 6-1, 6-1 on Saturday evening.

Kazakhstan’s Rybakina proved too much for British wildcard Boulter to handle in the third round encounter, as the No 3 seed crushed 20 winners to 14 unforced errors, winning 84% of her first serve points to run away with the match in 57 minutes.

With the win, defending champion Rybakina sets a round of 16 encounter against Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia, the No 13 seed, next.

Rybakina pleased with dominant third round performance

Speaking to the media after her win over Katie Boulter, Elena Rybakina had this to say:

“Today I played really well, and really happy with my performance. I was focused from the beginning till the end. Yeah, really happy with this one.”

“Now I feel much more confident,” the No 3 seed continued. “And also second match with the closed roof I was feeling much better, serving also well from the beginning. [I’m] getting used to the Centre Court.”

Having had some health struggles the past month, Rybakina confirmed that she has been on the mend in recent weeks as well:

“I’m feeling much better physically. Still I think not at my best. But also with every match I think I’m getting fitter.

“After French Open, was not easy. Took me a long time. Also long time to do the fitness. It was not easy after the virus. Muscle pain and everything. So now it’s getting just better.”

The Kazakh won against American Shelby Rogers (4-6, 6-1, 6-2) and Frenchwoman Alize Cornet (6-2, 7-6 (2)) in the previous rounds of The Championships.

Earlier in the tournament, Boulter, ranked No 89, defeated Australian Daria Saville (7-6 (4), 6-2) and Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova (6-0, 3-6, 6-3).

London (Grand Slam), other third-round results (All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, grass, GBP 16.077.000, most recent results first):

• Anastasia Potapova vs. Mirra Andreeva
• Ons Jabeur (6) beat Bianca Andreescu: 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Madison Keys (25) beat Marta Kostyuk: 6-4, 6-1
• Aryna Sabalenka (2) beat Anna Blinkova: 6-2, 6-3
• Petra Kvitova (9) beat Natalija Stevanovic (Q): 6-3, 7-5
• Ekaterina Alexandrova (21) beat Dalma Galfi: 6-0, 6-4
• Beatriz Haddad Maia beat Sorana Cirstea: 6-2, 6-2
• Marie Bouzkova (32) beat Caroline Garcia (5): 7-6, 4-6, 7-5
• Iga Swiatek (1) beat Petra Martic (30): 6-2, 7-5
• Elina Svitolina (WC) beat Sofia Kenin (Q): 7-6 (3), 6-2
• Belinda Bencic (14) beat Magda Linette (23): 6-3, 6-1
• Jessica Pegula (4) beat Elisabetta Cocciaretto: 6-4, 6-0
• Marketa Vondrousova beat Donna Vekic (20): 6-1, 7-5
• Victoria Azarenka (19) beat Daria Kasatkina (11): 6-2, 6-4
• Lesia Tsurenko beat Ana Bogdan: 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (18)