Indian Wells: In the BNP Paribas Open final, defending Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina defeated Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (13-11) 6-4 for her first victory in five tries. Sabalenka had earlier this year defeated Rybakina in the Australian Open final.
To avenge her loss to the Belarusian in the Australian Open final, Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina defeated a struggling Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets to claim the women’s championship at Indian Wells.
In her maiden WTA 1000 final, Rybakina overcame a break behind to win the first set, which was fiercely contested and featured 10 double faults from Sabalenka, the second seed. Rybakina, the 10th seed from Kazakhstan, never trailed the rest of the way to a 7-6 (13-11) 6-4 victory.
After Sabalenka scored a forehand lob just inside the baseline for a 3-2 advantage, followed by a simple hold that gave the Belarusian control, Rybakina, who defeated the previous champion and world No. 1 Iga Swiatek to advance to the final, dropped serve.
The match was levelled at 4-4 when Sabalenka gave back the break with an unfortunate double fault, but Rybakina wouldn’t give in and held to love to keep the momentum going. This forced a tiebreaker.
Despite her difficulties, Sabalenka had her opportunities in the opening set, but she wasted three set points and rejected five more before finally hitting a forehand long to give Rybakina the upper hand.
Before Sabalenka finally found her footing in the second set, Rybakina broke the tiebreaker. Nevertheless, the Kazakh saw her opportunity and quickly clinched the deal on her first championship point when her rival fired a service return into the net.
In addition to being the first time in their developing rivalry that the match didn’t go to three sets, it is Rybakina’s first victory over Sabalenka in five career matches.
Sabalenka suffered just her second loss of the year, while Rybakina moved to 16-4 for the season.
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