WTA Finals 2024: Elena Rybakina shocks world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka with round-robin victory in three sets

Elena Rybakina ensured she didn’t leave the WTA Finals empty-handed by beating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in three sets. While the result does not change the fact that Rybakina will not make the semi-finals, it does mean her disrupted year ends on a high. Sabalenka, meanwhile, knows improvements are needed if she wants to lift the title in Riyadh.

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Aryna Sabalenka might be the in-form player on hard courts this year, having lifted both the Australian Open and the US Open titles, but she wasn’t able to keep her unbeaten streak going in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday..

Instead, the world No. 1 was beaten in her final round-robin match by Elena Rybakina, the tournament's fifth seed, 6-4 3-6 6-1.

Rybakina did beat Sabalenka on hard courts earlier this year in Auckland, but the second half of her year has been disrupted by illness and injury. And having lost both of her two matches to date in the WTA Finals, beating the in-form Sabalenka gives Rybakina some pride heading into the off-season, where she will begin work with new coach Goran Ivanisevic.

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“It was a tough match, and really happy I managed to win, and it’s nice to finish the year with this victory against the number one,” Rybakina said in her on-court interview after the match.

“I think every match I played here was a little bit better, and it wasn’t easy after such a break [from the sport].”

Going into the match, Sabalenka had already qualified for the semi-finals with back-to-back wins against Jasmine Paolini and Qinwen Zheng, while Rybakina’s tournament was over after those two defeats.

It might have been a dead rubber on paper, but that did not stop Rybakina from starting well with a break in the opener, only for Sabalenka to hit straight back following a double fault.

Sabalenka continued her sparking form in Riyadh to break again and overturn Rybakina’s early advantage. But just as the tide was beginning to turn for the world No. 1, she conceded a double fault of her own as Rybakina struck back for 3-2 with the fourth break in the opening five games.

Rybakina managed to swing the first set back in her favour when she broke a frustrated Sabalenka for the third time, the Belarusian throwing her racquet to the ground in anger after another error. With that, the first set went to Rybakina.

After so many breaks of serve in the first, the second set started in complete contrast with both players dominating behind their respective first serves. With just over an hour on the clock in the big hitting encounter, Sabalenka was ahead 4-3 and starting to find the lines.

Stepping up nearer the baseline and hammering her returns to the feet of Rybakina, Sabalenka finally broke through for a 5-3 lead in the second - and took the second set 6-3 to level things up.

Despite dominating the end of the second set, Sabalenka couldn’t continue her momentum. She began to introduce drop shots into her game, much to the puzzlement of those watching, who could see her groundstroke dominance wearing Rybakina down.

Aryna Sabalenka in action against Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in her third round robin match on Day 5 of WTA Finals

Image credit: Getty Images

That, combined with Rybakina’s accuracy, sent the Kazakh player up a break in the third set.

And from there she didn’t put a foot wrong, coming through a 6-4 3-6 6-1 winner when Sabalenka sent a backhand slice into the net.

The group stages conclude tomorrow, but there has been a change to the line-up: Jessica Pegula has withdrawn with a knee injury, having lost both her matches so far.

She is replaced by Daria Kasatkina - the first alternate - who has the tough job of taking on Iga Swiatek.

Coco Gauff plays Barbora Krejcikova, with Gauff the only player guaranteed a place in the semi-finals. Swiatek and Krejcikova can both still qualify for the semi-finals, with Sabalenka and Zheng awaiting.

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