3rd seed Elena Rybakina declined a first-round bye while 4th and 5th seeds receive one at the Pacific Open in Tokyo

Elena Rybakina deprived of first round bye despite being the third seed.

3rd seed Elena Rybakina declined a first-round bye while 4th and 5th seeds receive one at the Pacific Open in Tokyo

Elena Rybakina(Image via The Times of India)

Upon the implementation of the new performance byes format by the Women’s Tennis Association(WTA), third-seeded Elena Rybakina will not be receiving a first-round bye at the Pacific Open in Tokyo. However, fourth and fifth-seeded Maria Sakkari and Caroline Garcia will be receiving byes following their final and semi-final appearance at the Guadalajara 1000 event.

The performance byes format awards byes to those players who have reached the final stages of any tournament in the previous week. This format was introduced in order to give these players ample time to travel from the previous tournament to the next. This format is supposed to encourage players to participate in consecutive tournaments with these first-round byes as motivation.

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However, following this format, third-seeded Elena Rybakina will not be receiving a first-round bye. Instead, World No.9 Maria Sakkari and World No. 11 Caroline Garcia will be receiving byes. Sakkari and Garcia faced each other in the semi-final of the Guadalajara 1000 tournament. While it was Sakkari who won and moved on to the final, both players will be receiving a first-round bye along with first and second-seed Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula respectively.

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Instead, Rybakina will be facing Czechian Linda Noskova in the first round of the Pacific Open at Tokyo. The performance-based byes keep the best interest of players who play consecutive tournaments in mind. However, it will result in penalizing those who do not make the appropriate scheduling decisions.

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Elena Rybakina qualifies for the WTA Finals

WTA World No.5 Elena Rybakina has qualified for the WTA Final event in Cancun, Mexico. She became the first Kazakh woman to qualify for the WTA Final singles event.

Elena Rybakina
Elena Rybakina (Image via CNN)

The former Wimbledon champ has had a couple of busy seasons over the past. She won her first and only Grand Slam at the Wimbledon Championships in 2022. She also reached the final of the Australian Open 2023. Moreover, 2023 saw her lift two Masters 1000 trophies, the first at the Indian Wells Open and the second at the Italian Open.

These achievements by the Kazakh have put her on the front row for the WTA Final event. The prestigious season-closer will take place at Canacun, Mexico from October 29 to November 5, 2023.

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