Elena Rybakina is discovering that her big serve and heavy ground strokes can do damage on clay courts, too.
The Wimbledon champion was dominating 21-9 with winners when Ukrainian opponent Anhelina Kalinina retired due to a left thigh injury early in the second set of the rain-delayed Internazionali BNL d’Italia, which ended shortly after midnight yesterday.
“I can play good on all the surfaces,” Rybakina said. “It’s just maybe for clay I need to be ready more physically and maybe have a lot of preparation.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
It has been quite a year for Rybakina, who reached the final of the Australian Open, won an elite title in Indian Wells and was runner-up in Miami.
“I’m proud that I can maintain this level,” she said. “I can see improvements on the court, physically also... I think there is still a lot of room to improve.”
On Monday, Rybakina is guaranteed to move up to a career-high No. 4 in the rankings, and is competing in the French Open, which starts next weekend.
Photo: Reuters
“She’s serving 200kph. She’s also making winners like no one on tour,” Kalinina said. “Anyone can win in Paris, but she has good chances.”
“I am sure if she’s going to do like this, maybe new world No. 1 for sure,” Kalinina added.
Rybakina was leading 6-4, 1-0, 15-0 when Kalinina called for a trainer and grasped her left leg as she teared up. She then decided she could not continue.
The final began at almost 11pm on Saturday and Rybakina lifted the trophy after midnight.
“I’m really sorry that I couldn’t play,” Kalinina said during the awards ceremony as the crowd — which had waited under the rain for hours before the night session started — whistled.
“I feel like I am at my physical limit today,” she said.
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek also retired in the third set against Rybakina in the quarterf-inals due to a right thigh injury.
In the men’s singles, Holger Rune was set to face Daniil Medvedev in the final after press time yesterday.
The 20-year-old Rune rallied past Casper Ruud 6-7 (7/2), 6-4, 6-2, and Medvedev celebrated with a dance after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5, 7-5 in a semi-final that was suspended twice in the first set for a total of nearly four-and-a-half hours due to rain.
Rune, who eliminated six-time Rome champion Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals, improved to 7-1 in his career against players ranked in the top five.
“I play some of my best tennis when I play the top guys of the world,” Rune said. “You need it against those players.”
Making the final marked quite a turnaround for Medvedev, who lost his opening match in Rome in his three previous appearances. If he beats Rune, Medvedev would return to No. 2 in the rankings and thus be seeded second for the French Open, which starts next weekend.
It will be just the second clay-court final for Medvedev, and first since 2019.
He celebrated with a little dance after converting his first match point more than six hours after the match started.
“It’s like being in the club completely drunk,” Medvedev said. “When you are dancing — and I have a lot of friends like this — you feel like you are the god of the dance floor, but then when they show you the video it was not the thing.”
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
HAT-TRICK PREP: World No. 1 Sabalenka clinched her first win of the season, as she aims to become the first woman in 20 years to win three Australian Opens in succession Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Taylor Fritz yesterday all clocked impressive wins as tennis powerhouses Italy and the US surged into the quarter-finals of the mixed-team United Cup. World No. 3 Gauff swept past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-2 to avenge a loss at the Paris Olympics, while Fritz took care of Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 in searing Perth heat. That was enough to put the Americans — last year’s winners — into a last-eight clash with China today, while Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan today are to meet defending champions Germany, led by Alexander Zverev, in the other Perth quarter-final. In Sydney, the in-form
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
RSS