Elena Rybakina survived a tumultuous opening set before defeating Aryna Sabalenka to win her first WTA 1000 trophy at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
The current Wimbledon champion was pushed to her limits early on before ousting Sabalenka 7-6(11), 6-4, after more than two hours of play. In what was a tense encounter, Rybakina broke three times and saved four out of the six break points that she faced against her fiery opponent. It is the first time she has defeated Sabalenka on her fifth attempt.
Besides becoming the first Kazakh to win a WTA 1000 title at the age of 23, Rybakina has also become the first woman in history to defeat the world’s top two players at the same Indian Wells tournament. In the semi-finals, she beat Iga Swiatek who won the title in 2022. Furthermore, Sabalenka is only the second top-10 player she has defeated in a final after Ons Jabeur at Wimbledon last year.
“It was an incredible two weeks here. Thank you to everybody who came and supported us,” Rybakina said to the crowd during the trophy ceremony.
“I want to congratulate Aryna for a great two weeks. You have done an amazing job with your team. It is the first time it has gone my way (in their rivalry). Hopefully, we will play against each other in many more finals. It is always a pleasure to play against you and it is always a tough battle.” She added.
In what was a rematch of this year’s Australian Open final, the latest clash between the two reigning Grand Slam champions was an incredibly dramatic encounter where at times it was just a fine margin that separated them.
A marathon 79-minute opening set saw continuous changes in momentum in Indian Wells. Sabalenka was the first to draw blood with the help of some luck after a shank shot produced the perfect overhead which enabled her to break for a 3-2 lead. Three games later Rybakina managed to break back at the expense of a double fault from her opponent who struggled with her serve by producing 10 double faults throughout the opener. To add to the drama, Rybakina then worked her way to set point whilst ahead at 6-5 but failed to convert her opportunity after hitting a backhand long.
The twists and turns continued in the tiebreak where 15 out of the 24 points played were won by the returner. Rybakina saw another four set point chances come and go, as well as having to save another two that she faced. Leading 12-11, she finally prevailed at the expense of a Sabalenka forehand error which prompted further frustration from the highly animated Belarusian.
In the lead, Rybakina got off to a perfect start in the second frame by breaking a frazzled Sabalena to love before later securing the double break. The world No.2 continued to fight on the court but was unable to find a way to tame her Kazakh rival who she had beaten in all four of their previous WTA Tour meetings before Indian Wells.
Moving to a game away from victory, the world No.10 suffered another blip after a resistant Sabalenka recovered one of those breaks as she closed the deficit from 2-5 to 4-5. However, on her second attempt of serving the match out, Rybakina was victorious after hitting a serve out wide that her rival returned into the net on match point.
Rybakina will rise to a ranking high of No.7 on Monday as a result of her triumph in the desert. It is the first time in her career that she has won eight consecutive matches on the Tour.
