Russian teen upsets Garcia

ST PETERSBURG: Russian qualifier Elena Rybakina saved a match point on her way to a stunning 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5) victory over third seed Caroline Garcia in the second round at the St Petersburg Trophy.

Rybakina, returning from a hand injury and ranked 450th in the world, defeated Timea Bacsinszky in the first round and followed up with a sublime performance to reach her first WTA quarter-finals.

The 18-year-old came back from a break down twice in the second set to force a tiebreak before pulling off a dramatic comeback to take world No. 7 Garcia to the decider.

She led by a mini-break in the third-set tiebreak and needed to dig deep to win the final two points, wrapping up her first victory against a top-10 player.

Rybakina, making her 2018 debut in St Petersburg, will face the winner of the match between fifth seed Julia Goerges and Italian Roberta Vinci in the quarter-finals.

French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko overcame former world No. 2 Vera Zvonareva of Russia 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 to book a spot in the quarter-finals. — AFP