Elena Rybakina admits she was well aware of what happened in Berlin when she and Aryna Sabalenka found themselves playing a second-set tie-break in Riyadh as the Kazakh just wanted to stay fully focused and avoid another catastrophe.
After winning the first set of the WTA Finals title match with a 6-3 scoreline, the world No. 5 impressively completed a two-set win over Sabalenka by not dropping a single point in the second set tie-break.
In their WTA Finals tie-break, Rybakina was clinical. And it came five months after she suffered one of the most brutal and stunning losses of her career. On the grass courts of Berlin, the Kazakh made an outstanding start to the third-set tie-break of her quarterfinal match against Sabalenka and opened a 6-2 lead to clinch four consecutive match points. Still, she ended up losing that match after the world No. 1 stunningly won the next six points to register an improbable 7-6 (6) 3-6 7-6 (6) win.
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"I have no idea how I was able to win those last points. I think I just got lucky, to be honest," the Belarusian confessed after the Berlin match.
Rybakina: Losing the Berlin tie-break was tough... I wanted to stay focused in the moment this time
"I remember earlier this year we played a third-set tiebreak in Berlin, where I was leading and had multiple match points - that one was really tough. This time, I just tried to focus on every single point without thinking ahead until I actually got to match point. Only then did I realize l'd won, because I was so focused in the moment. Looking back now, the first few points in that tiebreak were absolutely crucial," the Kazakh said after beating Sabalenka to clinch her maiden WTA Finals title.
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Rybakina and Sabalenka met four times during the second part of 2025 and split wins.
