'It’s always a help': Elena Rybakina ecstatic to have coach Stefano Vukov back after overturning WTA ban

Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina produced arguably the best performance of her season on Friday night. The 26-year-old defeated the reigning world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, in the quarterfinal of the Cincinnati Open in straight sets with a score of 6-1, 6-4.

The victory was Rybakina’s 37th in 52 matches this year, and she has now managed to cement a spot in the semifinal of a WTA competition for the sixth time in the singles category. Rybakina’s win over Sabalenka was an important one for her, especially after going through a difficult phase in the recent past, largely because of what happened with her coach Stefano Vukov.

Vukov was handed a ban from the WTA for his improper conduct towards Rybakina when the two worked together in the past. The ban, however, was lifted on appeal, and he was allowed to work with the player in the ongoing Cincinnati Open. At the time of the ban, Rybakina stated that she did not agree with the WTA’s decision. “I don’t agree with a lot of things what the WTA do in the sense of my relationship with Stefano,” she said back then. “As I said before, I have never made any complaints or any of these things. I always said that he never mistreated me.”

Rybakina, after the match, spoke about the importance of working with the whole team. “It’s great that he’s here in the box, finally, so it’s a good thing,” said Rybakina. “It’s always a help when the whole team is here with me.” Talking about her overall performance on the night, Rybakina stated that she is ‘happy’ with the serve and also thanked the crowd for showing incredible support.

Big result

“Well, I’m happy with the serve, definitely,” said Rybakina. “I think it was a key today because we’re both big hitters and from the serve, it was depending a lot, and I think today I served really well and of course, if Aryna serves well, then it’s also completely different. But today I felt like I served well and I was always having an advantage, so it helped to close out the match too, and yeah, I think overall from the baseline it was pretty good intensity, so hopefully I will continue like this. Thank you so much. Thank you for coming and supporting us. I’m really happy to be in the semis. It was a tough match and I played really well today, so I hope I can continue like this in my next one.”

Rybakina’s next opponent will be world number three, Poland’s Iga Swiatek. The 24-year-old secured her spot in the last four after beating Anna Kalinskaya in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-4. It will be the 10th meeting between the two players in professional tennis. In the previous nine meetings, Swiatek has a slight advantage as she won on five occasions.

This year, however, things have remained one-sided. In 2025, both players faced each other on three occasions, with Swiatek winning all three. Their most recent meeting came in the fourth round of the French Open, where Swiatek came out on top with a score of 1-6, 6-3, 7-5. Rybakina’s last win over Swiatek came last year in Stuttgart, where she emerged victorious with a score of 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Talking about her next round’s opponent, Rybakina stated that her focus will be on producing her best tennis on the court against a ‘great’ player in Swiatek in what a ‘difficult match’ would be. “Well, she’s a great player, so of course it’s going to be a difficult match,” said Rybakina. “I will try to focus on myself and try to recover as well. So, yeah, hopefully I can show a good tennis [match] and thanks again for coming.”