After her Wimbledon triumph in 2022, Elena Rybakina keeps proving her qualities also in 2023, and this time, she will also receive points as a reward for her efforts.
The 23-year-old Kazakh won the Wimbledon last year, but she didn't receive any WTA points, because of the association's decision, following the tournament's ban of Russian and Belarusian players. Rybakina therefore faced many hurdles since, as she wasn't ranked as high as she should have been, but that will change after the 2023 Australian Open.
Rybakina, who entered the first Grand Slam of the season as the 22nd-seeded, was a dominant player in all of her matches and also defeated world no. 1 Iga Swiatek along the way. In the semifinals, she took on former world no. 1, Victoria Azarenka.
The Belarusian enjoyed a good tournament, but she lost to Rybakina last year in Indian Wells, and the 2022 Wimbledon champion surely wanted to follow up on that win.
In the first set, fans in the Rod Laver Arena saw multiple breaks as first Azarenka went into a 3-2 lead, before her opponent won three consecutive games and had a set point to win the set in the ninth game.
However, she couldn't use that and neither Azarenka could use her three break points in the eleventh game and so a tie-break had to decide. Despite multiple mini-breaks, Rybakina proved to be a better player and won it 7-4.
There was less drama in the second set. Once again, there were plenty of break points, but this time, the Kazakh had majority of those.
After an hour and 43 minutes, Rybakina won the match 7-6(4), 6-3 to book her first Australian Open final. She will play against Aryna Sabalenka or Magda Linette.
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