Elena Rybakina kicked off her 2024 campaign with a pretty dominant win over native Australian Olivia Gadecki at the Brisbane International.
Rybakina played in last year's Australian Open final, which shows she enjoys conditions down under. She's a good server and a heavy hitter, which the courts in Australia generally reward. In her first match back on the continent, we saw that as she destroyed native player Olivia Gadecki in two sets.
The Australian is a capable player and competes well, but she was no match for the heavy-hitting game of the reigning Australian Open runner-up. Gadecki showed her capabilities in the opening set, where she hung around pretty well.
Rybakina didn't really have any major chances in the first few games of the match, as Gadecki was able to keep her away from them. Once she found her rhythm, though, things changed rapidly. Rybakina broke her opponent late in the opening set to take it 6-4, and that momentum carried over into the next set.
Most of the damage Rybakina did came on the second serve of Gadecki, which makes sense. The damage was more widespread in the second set as Rybakina was now in full control of the match. She even started to serve well, which diminished the chances for Gadecki to break even further.
An early break gave Rybakina a 3-0 lead and from there, it was a rather simple cruise to the finish line. The final score ended up being 6-4 6-1 as she moves on to the next round where she'll play either Elise Mertens or Sloane Stephens.
It's been a good start for the Kazakhstani player, who played pretty well at the World Tennis League in Abu Dhabi despite losing both matches there. It looks like it will be a very good season for the world number 4.
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