INDIAN WELLS: Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina beat a misfiring Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(11), 6-4 on Sunday to claim the Indian Wells title and avenge her loss to the Belarusian in the Australian Open final.
Rybakina, playing in her first WTA 1000 final, saved three set points in the opening frame and was never really tested in the second where she cruised to a victory that will send her to a career-high seventh in the rankings. The triumph in the California desert was the fourth career WTA singles title for the 23-year-old Rybakina and her first against second seed Sabalenka in five attempts.
“It’s actually the first time it went my way (against her) so we’ll see, hopefully we are going to play many more finals,” Rybakina said during the trophy presentation before Sabalenka stepped in and joked: “I’ll make sure it was the last one.”
Rybakina, who beat defending champion and world number one Iga Swiatek to reach the final, dropped serve when Sabalenka landed a forehand lob just inside the baseline for a 3-2 lead followed by a routine hold that gave the Belarusian control.
But the Kazakh 10th seed did not back down and immediately held at love to steady the ship before Sabalenka handed back the break with an untimely double fault that levelled the match at 4-4 from where the duo remained on serve to force a tie-breaker. — Reuters
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