22-year-old #20 Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) lost the semifinal match of the Olympic tournament to 24-year-old #12 Belinda Bencic (Switzerland). Although, according to the statistics of the match, she should have won it!
Bencic made fewer unforced mistakes (34 against 40), but Rybakina significantly surpassed her in winners (45 against 26) and aces (14 against 5). Rybakina made only 7 double faults, while Bencic made 12. Quite a rare case when the statistics are completely in favor of the loser.
And yet, from the very beginning of the match, Rybakina could not win it. She could not win at key points in the match. Rybakina could not completely pull herself together, concentrate and put pressure on her opponent. She had more than enough opportunities to win the match in two sets. But she only converted 6 of the 16 (!) breakpoints.
It was an interesting match, but many unforced errors of both tennis players ruined the impression of it. It was reminiscent of a football game in which players do not score a goal into an empty net. If such a comparison is appropriate, then Rybakina could not convert a dozen penalties.
Women's tennis 