Elena Rybakina shares reasons behind her poor WTA Finals campaign despite win over World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka
Elena Rybakina ended her WTA Finals campaign on a high with a three-set win over World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka.
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Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka (via X)
World No. 5 Elena Rybakina ended her season with a strong win over No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. On Wednesday, the 2022 Wimbledon champion won 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in the final match of the Purple Group at the WTA Finals in Riyadh.
After her exit from the tournament, Rybakina pointed to a lack of proper preparation as the reason for her early struggles. She felt that missing matches and dealing with off-court challenges made it difficult to find her rhythm. By the time she started playing well, it was already too late.
But of course, overall, I know that I’m not at my best, and if I would have maybe more weeks and some other matches, but with all the circumstances, I’m really happy overall how I played this this tournament.
Elena Rybakina said in the post-match interview in the WTA Finals
Rybakina finished her WTA Finals campaign with a 1-2 record. Sabalenka, who had already secured the top spot in the group, will move on to Friday’s semifinals to face the No. 2 qualifier from the Orange Group.
Heading into Wednesday’s match, Rybakina was considered the underdog. She had played only three matches since Wimbledon and had not competed since withdrawing from the US Open due to a back injury. Sabalenka had won six of their previous nine encounters.
Aryna Sabalenka struggles to stay motivated in her final group stage match
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka admitted that staying motivated in lower-profile matches is something she still needs to work on. Her match against Elena Rybakina had little meaning for her, as she had already secured the year-end No. 1 ranking after Iga Swiatek‘s loss to Coco Gauff yesterday (November 5).
Well, honestly, this is something I have to learn. how to keep myself motivated and hungry and being 100% on in this kind of matches when you know that you’re already in the semis and the only motivation for you is points and money. But that was tricky. And you see someone up on another side, and especially with such a high-level player who has kind of like nothing to lose, and she was just going for her shots and everything was going in. I would say that emotionally, the first set, I was kind of off — not kind of — I was really off, and that’s something I have to fix before the semis.
Aryna Sabalenka said in her post-match press conference
Sabalenka had also already qualified for the semifinals after straight-set wins over Qinwen Zheng and Jasmine Paolini. Coming into the match, she was on a seven-match win streak, which included her title at the Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open the previous month.
Rybakina had been a tough opponent for Sabalenka this year. In January, she dominated Sabalenka in the final of the Brisbane International, winning 6-0, 6-3. Later, in a thrilling Madrid semifinal, the World No.1 won in three sets, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(5).
In their latest meeting, Rybakina raced to a 4-1 lead and never faced a break point in the final set. She was flawless on her first serve, winning all 12 points when it landed, and secured a comfortable win. The victory earned the Kazakh player 200 PIF WTA Ranking points and $350,000 in prize money.
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Fahad Hamid
(649 Articles Published)