Elena Rybakina Reveals Two things She Changed Mid-Match to Beat Iga Swiatek at the WTA Finals

Elena Rybakina’s dream start to the WTA Finals continued as she defeated 2023 champion Iga Swiatek in three sets in Riyadh. The World No.7 has now won eight consecutive tour-level matches and has secured her place in the semi-finals of the season-ending tournament after back-to-back victories.

Rybakina wasted no time establishing her game in the opening match against Amanda Anisimova in the Serena Williams Group. The former World No.1 showed dominant strides against the American star dropping just four games in straight sets. She continued with her terrific start against Swiatek but found herself down after the first set.

The Kazakhstan star made sure she made her serve her lethal weapon on the second set forcing Swiatek to make uncharacteristic errors. Rybakina won 12 of the final 13 games, pushing Swiatek to amass 42 unforced errors in total, 36 of them coming in the second and third sets in the match.

Swiatek managed to secure just 12 winners in a game she felt powerless. Rybakina ran away with the victory 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 to earn her 8th top 10 win of the season. The World No.7 currently sits at the top of the Serena Williams Group and became the first player at the tournament to secure her place in the semi-final.

During Rybakina’s on-court interview, she revealed that she learnt her lessons in the first set after Swiatek broke her early, which led her to change her game. The 26-year-old added that she maintained her focus on the court, improving her performance which ultimately led to winning over the former World No.1:

She broke me straight away on serve. But in the second set I pushed myself. The serve improved and really happy I stepped in and played better each point. I am very happy with the performance. Mentally I am happy that I stayed focused, no matter if it was the first set, I was trying to stay aggressive and do what I worked on with the coach. Of course, focusing more on my serve and after I got some confidence leading in the second set.

Rybakina will play Madison Keys in her final group match at the WTA Finals. There are expectations that Keys might withdraw from the tournament after telling Amanda Anisimova that she wouldn’t shake her at the net following her second consecutive loss at the season-ending tournament.

Elena Rybakina hopes to continue with her dream form at the WTA Finals in Riyadh

Elena Rybakina was backed to challenge Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek after she claimed her first Grand Slam at the Wimbledon Championship in 2022. But since then two women have won eight of the last 13 Grand Slam and Rybakina has been unable to build on that breakout success. However, she’s hoping things will change at the WTA Finals.

Before her meeting against Swiatek on Monday (November 3), Rybakina had lost to the Polish star on four consecutive occasions. But she ended her losing spell in the second group match at the WTA Finals. Speaking after the win, Rybakina hopes that she can continue with her good form at the tournament:

Mentally, I am happy that I stayed focused. I got some confidence in the second set and everything was going my way. Everything was going my way and it continued. Hopefully I will play like this throughout the whole tournament.

Rybakina was the last player to earn a place in the WTA Finals as she needed to win the Ningbo Open and reach the semi-finals of the Tokyo Open to do that. She had managed to get back into the top 10 during the North American hard-court swing after dropping off the elite group in the first half of the season.

Also Read: WTA Finals 2025: Iga Swiatek vs. Amanda Anisimova Preview, Prediction, and Live Stream Details

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