Elena Rybakina completes top-10 sweep with commanding WTA Finals start
Elena Rybakina’s WTA Finals opener felt less like an introduction and more like a statement.
Under the bright lights of Riyadh on Saturday night, the Kazakh No. 6 seed dismantled World No. 4 Amanda Anisimova, 6-3, 6-1, in just 57 minutes. It was a win that carried both statistical significance and unmistakable authority.
With that result, Rybakina checked off the final missing name on her resume. She has now beaten every Top 10-ranked player in the world at least once. No. 4 had been the last number unclaimed.
The achievement reads like a timeline of her evolution. From taking down Karolina Pliskova at No. 3 in 2020 Dubai to conquering Iga Swiatek as the top seed at this year’s Australian Open. Saturday’s victory filled the final gap in a career arc defined by quiet consistency and unflinching precision.
And true to form, the performance itself was clinical. Rybakina faced only a single break point all evening — saving it with an ace — while converting four of her five opportunities on Anisimova’s serve. Her control of rhythm was near total; her serve, immovable.
“Amanda is always dangerous,” Rybakina said afterward. “I knew I had to serve well and stay aggressive on the return. Today everything clicked.”
The result wasn’t entirely unexpected, but the manner of it was striking. Anisimova, making her WTA Finals debut, entered the match as one of the tour’s most improved players of 2025. Yet from the opening game, when Rybakina broke serve at love, the gap in experience was evident.
By the time Rybakina sealed the first set with another break, she had already dictated the match’s terms. Measured aggression, crisp first-strike tennis, and not a flicker of doubt.
The second set followed a similar pattern. Rybakina held to love, broke again, and ran away with the contest before Anisimova could find any foothold.
It’s been a familiar story since Wimbledon. Rybakina’s late-season surge now sits at 24 wins in her past 30 matches, including seven consecutive victories stretching back to her title run in Ningbo.
She also matched Jasmine Paolini for the most wins on tour since the US Open (11), and her 55 total wins this season trail only Swiatek (61) and Aryna Sabalenka (59).
Her dominance on serve has been especially notable. Across her last six matches, she has faced only 16 break points, saving 13 of them. Against Anisimova, that reliability freed her to attack returns early and finish rallies on her terms.
“It’s great to be back here,” Rybakina told the crowd afterward. “The fans make this event special, and I’m just happy to start this way.”
Beyond the immediate momentum, this opening victory holds symbolic weight. Rybakina’s two prior appearances at the WTA Finals ended with identical 1-2 records in group play. Now, sitting at 1-0 in the Serena Williams Group, she’s poised to rewrite that history.
