Elena Rybakina cannot stop and won't stop, as the Kazakhstani player added her fifth consecutive win by starting the 2024 Qatar Open with a win.
Rybakina was in action last week, of course, making her way to the final of the Abu Dhabi Open and winning that event by beating Daria Kasatkina in the final. She made the short trip to Doha, where she started off with an easy win by beating Lin Zhu in the second round.
The match would never be very complicated for her because she's in the form right now and likes the conditions in the Middle East. It allows her hitting to really shine, and Zhu can't really do much with that.
The Chinese player is aggressive and loves to attack, but trading blows from the baseline was always going to be an idea. It proved that in practice because Rybakina easily overwhelmed her and won the opening set 6-2.
She's just too strong right now because she's quite literally playing like she's in the zone. Outside of the Australian Open, Rybakina hasn't really had bad weeks.
She won in Brisbane, thrashing Aryna Sabalenka in the final, so she's already up to two trophies in 2024. With her tennis being like this, she could easily add another one this week, though there are plenty of those who would like to beat her.
Rybakina was even more impressive in the second set, winning it 6-1 in six minutes less than the opening set. By the end, Zhu was kind of over it and didn't really seem all too focused, which hastened her defeat.
Rybakina finished with seven aces and only lost three points behind her first serve. She didn't face a single break point the entire match and converted four of the seven she had on Zhu's serve. The final score was 6-2, 6-1, and a pretty good win for the third seed.
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