Elena Rybakina Aims to Keep the Momentum Going in Doha After Australian Open Victory

Elena Rybakina is seeking to become the first player since 2013 to win the Australian Open and the Doha Open.

Elena Rybakina Aims to Keep the Momentum Going in Doha After Australian Open Victory

Elena Rybakina (Image via X/The Tennis Letter)

In Short
  • Elena Rybakina is competing in the Doha Open shortly after her Australian Open victory.
  • She aims to maintain her momentum and become the first woman since 2013 to win both tournaments consecutively.
  • Rybakina has been in excellent form, losing only one match since October and hopes to continue her success at the WTA 1000 event.

Elena Rybakina is currently in Qatar for the Doha Open just two weeks after winning the Australian Open in Melbourne. The World No. 3 decided not to take a long break from the tour, unlike many of her colleagues, including Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, and Naomi Osaka. Instead, she wants to play to keep up with the momentum she had at the first Grand Slam of the season.

Rybakina has been in superb form since October at the Ningbo Open and has lost only one match since then. Also, she has not had many weeks of rest like other players. After playing in three consecutive tournaments to earn a place in the WTA Finals, she went on to win the championship in Riyadh, beating Sabalenka in the final.

Despite a busy schedule from October to November, she kicked off her 2026 campaign in January at the Brisbane International and reached the quarter-finals. At the Australian Open, Rybakina dropped just one set en route to the title, beating Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals and Sabalenka in the final.

She’s happy to be back on tour for this week’s Doha Open, where she aims to win her next event after lifting the Australian Open women’s singles title. The last player to win the Australian Open and her next tournament was Victoria Azarenka in 2013 and she did so in Melbourne and the Doha Open.

Since Azarenka achieved the feat, 12 different women have won the Australian Open, including Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, but none have been able to do that. During Rybakina’s press conference at the Doha Open, the 2-time Grand Slam champion revealed that she hopes to continue with her Australian Open victory momentum at the WTA 1000 tournament:

Hopefully this week is going to be as good in Australia, but if not we have so many tournaments ahead, and there are big ones, so we’ll try to work on things and get good results. I think the matches is the best practices also at the end of the day. So we’ll see how I’m going to feel here and how the matches will go. But again, it’s a good practice, no matter what. We still try to work on some things with the team.

Rybakina declared that she picked up a small cold on the way home, but she was able to rest and recover for the Doha Open. The Kazakhstan star celebration after the Australian Open was limited by the cold, but she primarily enjoyed time with her team exploring Melbourne before flying to Qatar.

Elena Rybakina explains the difference between winning the Australian Open and the Wimbledon Championship

Elena Rybakina claimed her maiden Wimbledon Championship in 2022 after beating Ons Jabeur in the final. She came from a set down to beat the Tunisian star and became the youngest woman (23) to win the title since 2011. Before the triumph at Wimbledon, her career-high ranking was World No.12.

Elena Rybakina (2)
Elena Rybakina (Image via X/The Tennis Letter)

Also, Rybakina became the first woman since 2006 to win the Wimbledon women’s singles final after going a set down. During the aforementioned press conference, she was asked to explain the difference between when she won the Wimbledon Championship and the Australian Open in January:

Of course it is different, because at Wimbledon, first of all, it was really not expected. I think I wasn’t really prepared that way also, but in the end everything turned out great for me. Of course it was a lot of emotions, different ones. In Australia, I reached the final a couple years ago, so I kind of knew the road. Of course, every day is different, new expectations and probably my approach to each match is a little bit different.

Rybakina has been tipped by several pundits and former players to win more Slams in her career and perhaps this season. She hopes to win the French Open, despite not having a good record at the tournament. Meanwhile, at the Doha Open, she will face either China’s Xinyu Wang or Colombia’s Emiliana Arango in the second round.

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