Number 4 seed and former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina beat number 8 seed Liudmila Samsonova 6-1 6-7 (2-7) 6-1 in 2 hours and 13 minutes to clinch the WTA 500 Internationaux de Strasbourg.
Rybakina had not reached a final since April 2024, when she won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix title in Stuttgart. The Kazakh player has claimed nine WTA Tour Trophies, including four titles on clay.
“I’m really happy with the week, with the way I played these matches. It was not easy, but I think I’m on the right way, playing better each match.. “No matter the results of today, I played some tough matches, tough opponents this week. Now I think that I have a little bit more confidence coming to Paris, and hopefully I can play as good as I played here, and even better. In the second set, I think Liudmila just played a little bit more aggressive. I actually had some opportunity to go up in the second set, but I didn’t take it. After that it was very close, and the tiebreak, she played better. Then in the third, I kind of went back to the tactics, and I was trying to stay aggressive, especially when I had some advantage”, said Rybakina.
Rybakina earned two breaks of serve to cruise to a 6-1 win in the first set. The Kazakh player broke in the third game of the second set to build up a 6-1 2-1 lead. Samsonova broke straight back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2.
Samsonova hit a backhand return winner to take a 5-3 lead. She was not able to serve out the first set, but she earned three set points at 6-5. Rybakina fended them off to set up a second set tie-break. Samsonova hit a rally forehand winner to take a 4-1 lead and held onto to win the tie-break 7-2 with three mini-breaks.
Rybakina broke serve in the second game of the third set and held on serve to build a 3-0 lead. Rybakina earned a second break in the sixth game to race out to a 5-1 lead and closed out the third set with an ace in the seventh game.
Rybakina will open her Roland Garros campaign against Argentine qualifier Julia Riera in the first round. Samsonova, who reached her first clay-court final in Strasbourg, will face Egypt’s Mayar Sherif in the first round at Roland Garros.
