Rybakina defeats Putintseva to reach Pan Pacific Open quarterfinals

At the 2026 Pan Pacific Open, Kazakhstan’s top-ranked player, Elena Rybakina (World No. 1), and second-ranked player, Yulia Putintseva (World No. 67), faced off in the second round of the WTA 500 tournament, with Rybakina winning 6-2, 6-3.

This was Rybakina’s opening match in Tokyo, while Putintseva defeated Greece’s Maria Sakkari (No. 31) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in the main draw after two qualifying wins.

Rybakina broke Putintseva’s serve twice in the first set and once in the second. She won 6-2, 6-3 in 1 hour, 10 minutes. Rybakina hit six aces to Putintseva’s one and committed one double fault, while Putintseva made none. Rybakina also won more points overall, 62-47.

Rybakina now leads 3-2 in her head-to-head record against Putintseva. Putintseva exits the singles draw in Tokyo after an earlier exit from the doubles. Another Kazakhstani player, Anna Danilina (World No. 7 in the doubles rankings), was also eliminated from the tournament.

Rybakina will face Canada’s Leylah Fernandez (No. 23) in her 13th quarterfinal of the year. The two recently met in the final of the 2026 Ningbo Open, where Rybakina won 6-2, 6-2. The Kazakhstani leads their head-to-head record 4-2, having won their last three meetings in Ningbo, Stuttgart and Tokyo last year.

Fernandez has yet to drop a set at the 2026 Pan Pacific Open. She defeated Japan’s Himeno Sakatsume (World No. 114) 6-2, 6-4 in the opening round before beating Belgium’s Elise Mertens (World No. 14) 6-2, 7-6 (10-8).