Elena Rybakina on Saturday clinched her biggest title since Wimbledon in 2022, defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) at the WTA Finals in Riyadh.
The world No. 6 put on yet another serving masterclass and was at her returning best as she became the first Kazakh and the first player representing an Asian country to lift the WTA Finals singles trophy.
Having gone 3-0 in round-robin play, Rybakina earned a record US$5.235 million and would finish the year ranked No. 5 in the world.
Photo: Reuters
“It’s been an incredible week, I honestly didn’t expect any result, and to go so far, it’s just incredible,” said Rybakina, who battled a shoulder injury all week.
The ace leader on tour with 516 struck this season, Rybakina fired 13 against Sabalenka, and finished the week with a total of 48 in Riyadh.
Rybakina was the last of the eight players in the singles field to qualify for the WTA Finals in Riyadh, and she did it by winning the 500-level title in Ningbo and reaching the semi-finals in Tokyo before withdrawing from the tournament.
Photo: Reuters
Her winning streak now stands at 11 matches and she improved her head-to-head record against Sabalenka to 6-8.
After the match, Rybakina refused to pose for a photo alongside Sabalenka and WTA CEO Portia Archer.
Rybakina has been at odds with the tour since they suspended her coach Stefano Vukov in February, for breaking the WTA code of conduct.
Vukov was initially suspended for a year, but appealed the decision and was back in Rybakina’s corner in August.
Asked why she snubbed the ceremonial photo with Archer, Rybakina said she preferred to keep the reason between her and the WTA head.
On whether she has had reconciliation talks with the tour to move past their issues, Rybakina said: “I think we’re all doing our job and we had the opportunity to have conversations, but in the end it never happened so we’re all doing our job and I think we’re going to keep it this way.”
In women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko on Friday lost a hard-fought semi-final to Timea Babos of Hungary and Luisa Stefani of Brazil 6-4, 7-6 (7/5).
Hsieh, who won the Finals doubles titles in 2013, and Ostapenko, a pairing fans have called “Su-Penko,” have fought their way into the Australian Open and Wimbledon finals without securing a title.
Babos and Stefani on Saturday lost the final to former Hsieh partner Elise Mertens of Belgium and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia 7-6 (4), 6-1.
Mertens and Kudermetova denied Su-Penko at Wimbledon earlier this year.
Meanwhile, at the ATP’s Hellenic Championship in Athens, Novak Djokovic won the 101st title of his career, coming from behind to beat Lorenzo Musetti 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
The Serb is one of just three men to have racked up a century of titles — he still needs two to equal Roger Federer’s 103, while Jimmy Connors heads the list with 109.
At 38 years and five months old, the 24-time Grand Slam winner is the oldest tournament winner since Australia’s Ken Rosewall, who was 43 when he won in Hong Kong in 1977.
“An incredible battle... Three hours of a grueling match, physically,” Djokovic said. “It could have been anybody’s match, so congrats to Lorenzo for an amazing performance. I’m just very proud of myself to get through this one.”
However, shortly after his victory, Djokovic announced he was pulling out of the ATP Finals with a shoulder injury.
He would be replaced in the Jimmy Connors Group by Musetti.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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