Sabalenka rallies to defeat Rybakina at Berlin Open

BERLIN (AP) — Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka staged a "crazy comeback," saving four match points before beating Elena Rybakina 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 in the quarterfinals of the Berlin Open tennis tournament Friday. Sabalenka was 6-2 down in the final set tiebreak but came storming back, winning six straight points to reach her eighth semifinal of the season. "Elena is a great player and we've had a lot of tough battles," Sabalenka said. "I have no idea how I was able to win those last points. I think I just got lucky. "I remember a long time ago when I was just starting, I won a lot of matches being down match points, and not so long ago I was thinking that it's been a while since I've made a crazy comeback, and here I am. It's amazing to win matches like that. I'm proud of myself for how I stayed in it. I was fighting, I was trying until the very last point." Sabalenka next faces Marketa Vondrousova, who defeated Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-1. Liudmila Samsonova also went through with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Amanda Anisimova. Samsonova will next meet Wang Xinyu after her opponent, Paula Badosa, was forced to withdraw due to a rib injury after losing the first set 6-1. Zverev overcomes bout of sickness HALLE, Germany — Alexander Zverev recovered from feeling unwell in the first set to defeat Flavio Cobolli 6-4, 7-6 in the Halle Open tennis quarterfinals Friday. "I felt fine before the match and then out of nowhere I felt really, really bad and felt ill," No.2 seed Zverev said. "I went to throw up and then 15 minutes later I felt okay again. So, I don't know what it was. I've never experienced that before. Hopefully I will be fine the next couple of hours." Zverev, who became the fifth player to reach five or more semifinals at the event after former champions Roger Federer, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Tommy Haas, now faces one of his oldest rivals, Daniil Medvedev. Medvedev knocked out Alex Michelsen 6-4, 6-3 to reach his third tour-level semifinal of the season. "I think it's the guy I've played the most in my career," Zverev said. "Definitely he's one of the toughest opponents in my career. It's going to be a great match and I'm really looking forward to facing him." Alexander Bublik and Karen Khachanov will contest the other semifinal. Bublik, who beat top-ranked Jannik Sinner in the second round, defeated Tomas Machac 7-6, 6-3 while Khachanov overcame Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3, 6-2.