Elena Rybakina Aims to Dethrone Aryna Sabalenka to Reach Career-Best No.1 Ranking This Season

Elena Rybakina has already upset Aryna Sabalenka this year by snatching away the Australian Open trophy with a three-set win in the final. And now, she is aiming to dethrone the Belarusian once again.

Rybakina is in Dubai to bid for her first WTA 1000 title in the tournament. She finished as the runner-up in 2020, losing the final to Simona Halep (the Dubai Open used to be a Premier tournament at that time).

Sabalenka, however, skipped the second WTA 1000 event of the Middle East Swing, citing a minor injury. The four-time Grand Slam singles champion, in fact, also did not play the Qatar Open. In both these Middle East events last year, Sabalenka, following her Australian Open final defeat to Madison Keys, suffered early round exits.

Her losing early means one thing: she doesn’t have many points to defend. She had only 10 points to defend in Doha, while in Dubai, she has 120 points to defend.

The World No.1 sits comfortably on top of the rankings table with 10,990 points, while second-placed Iga Swiatek has 7,803 points. Rybakina, who got back to her career-best No.3 after the Australian Open win, has 7,523 points. It’s possible for Rybakina to become a World No.1 this year, but she knows that she needs to perform consistently to topple Sabalenka.

It’s definitely a goal, but it depends on how the other players compete and what the results are gonna be. The season is so long. There’s no time to stop working. You need to improve every day.

Elena Rybakina said on the Al Ersal podcast

The Australian Open win helped the Kazakh ace improve her head-to-head record over Sabalenka to 7-8. It was also her second consecutive win over Sabalenka following their clash in the title match of last year’s WTA Finals.

Rybakina has so far added five Big Titles to her trophy cabinet. She had also played the final of the 2023 Australian Open but lost the match to Sabalenka. Prior to reaching her second Grand Slam final, Rybakina clinched the 2022 Wimbledon title against Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur.

In her Dubai opening round, Rybakina will lock horns with Kimberly Birrell. Last year in the tournament, Rybakina lost to eventual champion Mirra Andreeva in the semifinals.

Elena Rybakina makes her feelings known on playing best-of-five in Grand Slam events

Elena Rybakina overcoming a 0-3 deficit in the third set to beat Aryna Sabalenka in the Australian Open final impressed tournament director Craig Tiley and has proposed the idea of making the WTA aces play the best-of-five format from the quarterfinal onward. And, as expected, this drew mixed reactions from the WTA tour.

Danielle Collins joked that she almost had a cardiac arrest thinking about playing five-setters. Iga Swiatek said playing longer matches doesn’t make much sense, but she also thinks she might have an advantage if this change indeed happens.

Elena Rybakina, after her win over Qinwen Zheng in Doha, also shared a similar opinion. She said at the press conference:

I would like to stick to three sets. Five, it’s quite a lot. I’m not sure that the quality of the matches would be as good. But I don’t know how much players will have a voice on who is going to decide, but it’s quite difficult.

Rybakina, in last year’s Grand Slam events, had failed to reach the quarterfinals, making the fourth round thrice. In WTA 1000 events last year, she had made the semifinals thrice, including at the Dubai Open. The last time she won a title at this level was at the 2023 Italian Open against Anhelina Kalinina.

Also read: WTA Ace Destanee Aiava Says ‘F**k You to Everyone’ in Retirement Announcement Post: “Tennis Was My Toxic Boyfriend”

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