As long as the fans stayed up late to watch a tennis match, they did their best and even waved at 1:22!
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In the early hours of the morning the final quarter-finals ended. Kazakh Elena Rybakina, third seed in Montreal, defeated Russia’s Daria Kasatkina in three sets 5-7, 7-5, 7. 6 (8). When the winner finally raised her arms in the air, the clock read 2:54.
On Friday night, the two players battled non-stop for 3 hours and 28 minutes, often trading momentum and breaks of serve. Several games were decided by draws.
audience on fire
Before Kasatkina served for the game, spectators waved at the 5-4 score in the second half, unlucky for the No. 10 seeded tournament. She failed to give the encounter an exclamation point.
Rybakina seemed unperturbed by the right shoulder discomfort that had plagued her the day before and managed to provoke a deciding set.
The approximately 1,500 fans, who braved the cold – at the end of the duel it was around 15 degrees Celsius – and their sleep, heated up the atmosphere and tirelessly cheered on the two brave athletes.
At 2:36 the fans got up to dance and probably warm up.
The Journal even met two men who had just arrived at the Olympic Stadium from the Metallica show. They ended their busy evening in the IGA stadium.
Photo QMI Agency, JOEL LEMAY
only couple
Kasatkina had another chance to serve from a 3-0 deficit in the final set, but she missed again, not missing a single match point.
In the tiebreaker, Rybakina needed five match points to end the dispute.
The spectators then heartily congratulated the two completely exhausted players.
“Thank you everyone for your stay! I’ve never played a match like this before. It was tough mentally and physically,” Rybakina told the crowd, who are expected to return to the pitch at 3 p.m.
place in the semifinals
The square of the aces is now known.
The Kazakh will compete with the Russian Liudmila Samsonova on Saturday at 6 p.m. in good weather. 15th-seeded Friday had a busy Friday, sacking world No. 2 Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka in the morning before doing the same against 12th-seeded Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic in the quarter-finals earlier in the evening.
In the other semi-final at 12:30 p.m., the world number one, the Pole Iga Swiatek, meets the American Jessica Pegula, who is third in the WTA.