Elena Rybakina Carries Kazakhstan To Opening Win At 2025 United Cup
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Elena Rybakina proved to be her country's hero in the opening tie of the 2025 United Cup against Spain.
Only a few days after the tennis season officially ended with the final match at the 2024 Next Gen ATP Finals, the new season already began with the 2025 United Cup in Perth's RAC Arena.
The United Cup is held in two cities, Perth and Sydney. The action began in Perth with Kazakhstan taking on Spain in the first tie of the competition. On the paper, Kazakhstani team was favored, but it wasn't an easy tie for them.
In the men's singles match, Kazakhstan's Alexander Shevchenko took on Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta, who began the 2025 season without his coach Samuel Lopez, as the 54-year-old moved to Carlos Alcaraz's team.
Even without his coach, Carreno Busta showed that he can still compete with the best. He did even more than that, as he completely dominated his opponent to win the match in two sets.
In the first set of the match, the Spanish player broke Shevchenko's serve three times after her was broken in the opening game to win the set 6-2. In the second set, Carreno Busta avoided being broken, and broke his opponent's serve twice to win the match 6-2, 6-1.
With a 0-1 deficit, Elena Rybakina faced a challenging task. She took on Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in her singles match, which was her first official match under her new coach, Goran Ivanisevic.
Like she usually dues, Rybakina had a great start to the new season. She overpowered Bouzas Maneiro from the baseline, even though her serve didn't work as well in this match, as she had to face a total of 10 break points.
That was twice as much as her opponent had to face, but the efficiency was what mattered in this match. Rybakina used four out of five break points that she had, while Bouzas Maneiro could convert only one from five.
Thanks to that, the Kazakhstani player was able to win the match 6-2, 6-3, leveling the score of the tie at 1-1 before the mixed doubles match decided. Following her win, she was clearly happy about her start to the new season under Ivanisevic.
"We did preparations. For a couple of weeks. We’re getting to know each other better. There are a lot of things I can improve. We’re working a little bit on everything. It’s so difficult to come here straight away and play. Slowly, I think we will see the results of the work."
After two dominant wins, fans in Perth finally saw a competitive match in the last match of the tie. Rybakina and Shevchenko took on Carreno Busta and Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers in the mixed doubles match.
It was a proper battle with multiple break points on offer in both set. Eventually, both teams broke each other's serve twice in each set, which meant that both of the first two sets had to be decided in a tie-break.
Rybakina and Shevchenko were better in the first tie-break, winning it 7-4, while Carreno Busta and Cavalle-Reimers were better in the second tie-break, triumphing 7-2 to send the match into a decider.
In the match tie-break, Rybakina and Shevchenko overturned a 1-3 deficit to win the match 7-6(4), 6-7(2), 10-7, securing the first win at the 2025 United Cup for Kazakhstan. Following the victory, Shevchenko gave all the credit to his teammate.
"If Lena wasn’t carrying me this match, we would lose. Thanks to her. We played maybe once or twice a year. It’s unbelievable. It’s a great experience… Especially if you have a partner like Lena (laughing). She hits the ball so well. It’s unbelievable."
Latest Comments
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