Victoria Mboko, a 19-year-old Canadian tennis player, defeated Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina in the Qatar Open quarter-finals, marking a significant step towards entering the WTA top 10 rankings.
New Melbourne queen Rybakina happy to find highest level again
Fifth seed Elena Rybakina booked her place in the Australian Open semi-finals on Wednesday with a dominant second set display to hand six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek a 7-5, 6-1 defeat at Melbourne Park.
Elena Rybakina held her nerve to outlast world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a thrilling Australian Open 2026 women's singles final at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday.
Sabalenka primed for Rybakina rematch with eyes on third Australian Open crown
Elena Rybakina beat world number one Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6(0) in the WTA Finals title clash on Saturday to claim her first trophy in the season-ending championships.
Factbox on Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina, who beat Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the Australian Open final to win her second Grand Slam title on Saturday:
Aryna Sabalenka swept to her fourth successive Australian Open final with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.
Elena Rybakina stayed unbeaten at the WTA Finals in Riyadh with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over second alternate Ekaterina Alexandrova on Wednesday after Madison Keys withdrew from their final round robin meeting with illness and Mirra Andreeva was not fit to play.
Former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev, Australian Nick Kyrgios and 2022 Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina, are set to enthrall fans in India when the World Tennis League makes its debut, in Bengaluru, on December 17.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka overcame Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in a gladiatorial battle between big-hitters on Friday to book a WTA Finals title showdown with Elena Rybakina.
Aryna Sabalenka fell 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to Elena Rybakina on Saturday, the Russia-born Kazakh turning the tables on the Belarusian who beat her for the 2023 title.
Elena Rybakina rallied from a set down to beat Russian fourth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 and win the Ningbo Open title on Sunday, as her late surge to reach next month's WTA Finals gained momentum.
Elena Rybakina qualified for the WTA Finals' last four, beating an error-prone Iga Swiatek 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 on Monday, while Amanda Anisimova beat fellow American Madison Keys 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in Riyadh.
Jessica Pegula moved into the semi-finals of the Australian Open for the first time in her career on Wednesday, with a 6-3, 7-6(1) win over fellow American and fourth seed Amanda Anisimova at Melbourne Park.
Mboko saved a match point against Kazakh ninth seed Rybakina in front of adoring home support
Aryna Sabalenka showed nerves of steel and champion's resolve to defeat Elena Rybakina in their Berlin Open quarter-final on Friday, saving four match points in the final-set tiebreak.
Tough road for defending champion Keys
World number two Iga Swiatek joined a growing chorus of players demanding more privacy off the courts at the Australian Open after cameras captured Coco Gauff in a post-match meltdown that the American said should have been a personal moment.
Aryna Sabalenka got the revenge she craved on Friday by defeating Leylah Fernandez to erase the sting of her 2021 US Open semi-final upset.
Elena Rybakina put on a brilliant performance to defeat favourite Aryna Sabalenka 64, 46, 64 and lift her first Australian Open trophy.
The opening Grand Slam of the year begins at Melbourne Park on Sunday.
Aryna Sabalenka will aim to take a huge stride towards a third Australian Open title in four years when the Belarusian top seed clashes with Ukraine's Elina Svitolina on Thursday in a semi-final simmering with geopolitical tension.
Elena Rybakina powered into her first Cincinnati Open semi-final after stunning defending champion Aryna Sabalenka 6-1, 6-4 on Friday, while five-times Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz recovered from a second-set blip to beat Andrey Rublev.
China's Zheng Qinwen beat a struggling Elena Rybakina 7-6(4) 3-6 6-1 in a grueling WTA Finals group stage match on Monday, notching her first career win over the Kazakh in their third meeting.
Rybakina split with Vukov in August, just days ahead of the U.S. Open, before appointing Goran Ivanisevic in November but added her long-time coach back into her team this month.
Third seed Iga Swiatek will play against Italy's Jasmine Paolini in her first Cincinnati Open final.
The Croatian helped Djokovic claim nine of his 24 Grand Slam titles before leaving his team in March and on Friday was hired to coach world number five Rybakina for the 2025 season.
American lucky loser Reilly Opelka put up an intense battle to stun top seed Daniil Medvedev 7-6(5), 7-6(5) and reach the Libema Open semi-finals in Den Bosch on Friday.
Russian teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva continued her giant-slaying exploits at the Dubai Tennis Championships by upsetting Kazakhstani sixth seed Elena Rybakina 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the semi-finals on Friday.
The world number closed out the victory despite a few service wobbles late on, improving her win-loss record against Rybakina to 8-5.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka enters the Australian Open in her familiar role as the hot favourite but unlike in the past two years the powerful Belarusian arrives without a title to defend or the momentum of a winning run in Melbourne.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka has been named WTA Player of the Year for the second consecutive season after spending the entire year at the top of the rankings.
Iga Swiatek has dismissed suggestions the career slam is driving her Australian Open campaign this year, with the world number two saying on Friday that she tries to block out outside noise and focus only on "grinding match by match".
Blinkova sealed the victory on her 10th match point, prompting a memorable celebration and a standing ovation from the Rod Laver Arena crowd.
Top trio eye Grand Slam glory with Sabalenka targeting third Australian Open crown
Mboko, currently ranked 85th in the world, became the first Canadian to defeat three former Grand Slam champions in a single WTA event in the Open Era, with victories over Sofia Kenin, Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina.
A ruthless Iga Swiatek slammed the door shut on German lucky loser Eva Lys with a 6-0 6-1 win on Monday to breeze into the quarter-finals of the year's opening Grand Slam for the second time.
Aryna Sabalenka exemplified consistency in 2025 and arrives for the November 1-8 tournament having retained her US Open title in September, after finishing runner-up to Madison Keys at the Australian Open and Coco Gauff at Roland Garros.
Elena Rybakina set up a showdown with 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova for a place in Saturday's final.
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