Lucky loser Antonia Ruzic reached the first WTA 1000 quarterfinal of her career after top seed Elena Rybakina withdrew in the third set of their third-round match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Wednesday.
Ruzic took an early lead in the first set before Rybakina — who won her second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open earlier this month — rallied to win it 7-5. The Croat, ranked No. 67 on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, broke early again in the second set and this time held on to win it 6-4 and force a deciding set.
After Ruzic broke Rybakina’s serve in the opening game of the third set, Rybakina called for the trainer and retired from the match. It was Ruzic’s first win over a top-20 opponent, and she matched the best result by a lucky loser at a WTA 1000 event.
It was the second lucky break of the week for 23-year-old Ruzic. She lost in the first round of qualifying after holding six match points against Rebeka Masarova, but entered the main draw as a lucky loser.
Ruzic beat former U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu and Anastasia Zakharova, both in three sets, to reach the third round.
