No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina overcame a slow start to the Ningbo final to beat fourth-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova 3-6 6-0 6-3 to win the title in her debut at the Chinese WTA 500 tournament.
Alexandrova broke the third-seeded Kazakh in the second game of the match and that was enough for the Russian to take the first set.
After failing to threaten Alexandrova in the first set, Rybakina impressively responded after bageling the No. 4 seed in the second set to send the match into a decider in impressive fashion.
At the start of the third set, the 2022 Wimbledon champion continued her strong play and also took the opening three games. In the fourth game of the decider, Alexandrova finally held to one of her service games and ended the Kazakh's nine-game winning run. However, it didn't change much since the No. 3 seed earned another break in the eighth game to complete her comeback win.
For Rybakina, who won Strasbourg in May, this was her second title of the year and overall her 10th WTA title.
Rybakina gave credit to her team after winning Ningbo
Thank you so much to my team for always pushing me to be better. Especially at the end of the season, its not easy, but without you I would not be here. So, thanks again, and hopefully we can push a little more next week," the Kazakh said during the trophy ceremony.
Also, the 2022 Wimbledon champion made sure to give a shout-out to her Chinese fans.
"Hello everyone. I just won my title here in Ningbo. It was an amazing week. Thank you so much for all the support. See you in Tokyo," Rybakina said.
