Elena Rybakina wins Italian Open
The top-ranked female tennis player from Kazakhstan Elena Rybakina won the 2023 Italian Open in Rome and earned €521,754 as a prize. She also obtained 1,000 ranking points, according to Championat.com.
In the deciding match of the tournament, Rybakina played against Anhelina Kalinina from Ukraine.
The Kazakhstani female player won the first set with a score of 6:4. In the second set, the Ukrainian sportswoman refused to continue playing because of a knee injury and admitted the defeat.
This match lasted for one hour and eight minutes. During this time Rybakina made three aces, one double fault and also realized two break points out of nine.
At the same time, Kalinina made one serve out and realized one break point out of three.
As a result, Rybakina, who is the leader of the Kazakhstani female tennis team, has reached 4th place in the WTA rating.
Earlier in the tournament, Rybakina beat Jasmine Paolini (Italy), Anna Kalinina (Russia), Markéta Vondroušová (Czech Republic) and Iga Świątek (Poland).
In the semifinal, Rybakina also won against Elena Ostapenko from Latvia with a score of 6:2 and 6:4.
This is the second Rybakina’s title in the WTA 1000 season and in her professional career.
In Kazakhstan, Rybakina is also known as an active supporter of young female tennis players. For instance, she has given 14 promising sportswomen 2.5 million tenge ($5591) each.
In February, Kursiv.Media wrote about Rybakina’s story of success. Last year, she won Wimbledon 2022 and managed to reach the top five in the WTA rating.
