.png)
2 hours ago
5
Elena Rybakina re-established herself as one of the significant players in women’s tennis as she closed out a week of devastating performances against the best in the world by completely overpowering Aryna Sabalenka to capture one of the biggest titles of her career at the WTA Finals in Riyadh with a 6-3, 7-6 (0) win.
Having finished the season-ending tournament unbeaten in her five matches, Rybakina is now $5.235m (£3.98m) richer, earning the greatest prize money haul in the history of women’s sports. The victory marks the 26-year-old’s fourth big title after wins at Wimbledon in 2022, and Indian Wells and the Italian Open a year later. This is her third title of the season and her 11th title on the WTA Tour overall.
Until a few weeks ago, 2025 had been a disappointing year for the Russian-born Kazakhstani, whose presence in Riyadh was far from certain. She qualified for the tournament with a brilliant late run of form and has followed it up with some of the best performances of her career, winning her last 11 matches in the process.
Over the past few years, Sabalenka has built her reputation and immense success behind her enormous ground strokes and ceaseless aggression but here she found herself against the one opponent who has proven on numerous occasions that she is capable of outhitting the Belarusian.
A day after striking 15 aces in her semi-final win over Jessica Pegula, Rybakina reaffirmed her status as the best server in the world by making her service games impenetrable and putting so much pressure on Sabalenka to hold her own. The Kazakhstani took the first strike in many of the baseline exchanges, forcing herself inside the baseline and absolutely eviscerating the ball off both wings. As she tried to counter Rybakina’s relentless pace and depth, so often Sabalenka had no time to set up her strokes.
After snatching the decisive break of the opening set by laying waste the Sabalenka second serve, Rybakina piled pressure on her opponent throughout the second set, breezing through her own service games while forcing the No 1 into long games on her own serve.
As usual, Sabalenka fought desperately until the end, holding firm in generating two set points on Rybakina’s serve at 5-4 in the second set, but the Kazakhstani pulled herself together and ended the match serving and striking the ball at an astonishing level. She struck 36 winners with 13 aces, while limiting Sabalenka to 12 winners.
Since her surprise run to the Wimbledon title in 2022, Rybakina’s past few seasons have been fascinating. She is so highly regarded that she has often been discussed alongside Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff even when her results have not matched theirs. Too often Rybakina has not been able to find her best tennis in the important moments during the biggest tournaments. She has also been unsettled by numerous off-court problems, particularly the suspension of her coach, Stefano Vukov, who had been accused of being verbally and emotionally abusive towards Rybakina before his ban was lifted in August.
However, there has never been any doubt about the quality of her serve and ball striking. She has now placed herself back among the best in the world and positioned herself for even greater success in 2026.
after newsletter promotion
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic held his nerve at the end of a dramatic physical tussle to recover from a set down and defeat Lorenzo Musetti 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 after three hours to win his 101st career title at the Hellenic Championship in Athens, an ATP 250 event. By defeating Musetti, the world No 9, Djokovic stopped the Italian from automatically qualifying for the ATP Finals, which begin on Sunday in Turin.
Djokovic decided to compete in Athens because his family owns the tournament, which had previously been held in Belgrade, and he now resides in Athens. However, it is unclear whether Djokovic will compete in Turin.
Cameron Norrie suffered a painful loss in the Moselle Open final as he was defeated 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6) by Learner Tien, a fast-rising 19-year-old American. Norrie, who was attempting to win his first ATP title since February 2023, led 5-1 in the final set tie-break before losing five consecutive points. Although he saved one match point, he was eventually defeated in a brutal, attritional encounter filled with countless long rallies.
Despite the defeat, 2025 has been a resurgent season for Norrie, who finishes the year ranked No 27 after falling out of the top 90 in May because of injury and poor form.
