Elena Rybakina returned to the tennis courts at the 2024 WTA Finals, but her first match back was a loss to Jasmine Paolini.
The Kazakhstani player hasn't played since the US Open, and there were many question marks surrounding her and her tennis career. She parted ways with coach Stefano Vukov, and multiple sources suggested it might not have been a friendly split.
However, she rejected those narratives ahead of the year-end championship in Riyadh, and also announced the appointment of her new coach, Goran Ivanisevic, who isn't with her in Saudi Arabia.
In her first match back, Rybakina took on Jasmine Paolini, who had an outstanding season, reaching two Grand Slam finals, back-to-back at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Thanks to that, she qualified for the 2024 WTA Finals as the fourth seed, ranked one place ahead of Rybakina, who came only as the fifth seed, mostly due to her inactivity in recent months.
They met in their first match at the event and the second match in the Purple Group. In the first one, Aryna Sabalenka ousted Qinwen Zheng.
Rybakina was the first player to have a break point in the match. It came in the fifth game of the opening set, but the World No. 5 player was not able to convert it.
That had consequences, as she faced her first break point in the following game, and she couldn't save it, with Paolini breaking to lead 4-2 in the first set of the match.
However, the Italian player immediately lost that one-break advantage and the score was tied at 4-4. Rybakina had a break point in the ninth game, and also in the eleventh game, but in both cases, she couldn't convert them.
Again, that proved to be costly, as the set had to be decided in a tie-break, and in that tie-break, Paolini was the better player, winning it 7-5 to win the first set.
Paolini could immediately break at the start of the second set. She had two break points, but both were saved by Rybakina, who then created a break chance herself in the next game.
Like those of the Italian player, Rybakina's break point remained unused. In the seventh game of the second set, Paolini applied pressure on her opponent's serve again, and this time, she broke her serve, leading 4-3.
The Italian player was then able to serve out the set to win the match 7-6(5), 6-4 to win her first match at the WTA Finals. It was an important win for her and her first point in the round-robin stage.
On top of that, should she lose any of the following matches against Sabalenka or Zheng, a 2-0 could prove to be important in a tie-break situation in the round-robin stage.
Obviously, she was happy to win the match, and also welcome Rybakina back. The Kazakhstani player can still advance to the semi-finals, but she might need to win both of her matches to do so.
"I’m happy with the win today. Elena is playing unbelievably. Good to see her back on tour. It’s always tough to play her. Big serve. Big forehand. Everything, it’s big."
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