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Rybakina 'smashes out' Sabalenka in grand finale
The Straits Times
|November 10, 2025
Elena Rybakina clinched her biggest title since Wimbledon in 2022 by defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (7-0) at the WTA Finals in Riyadh on Nov 8.
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The world No. 6 put on yet another serving masterclass and was at her returning best, as she became the first Kazakh and the first player representing an Asian country to lift the WTA Finals singles trophy.
It earned her a record US$5.235 million (S$6.8 million) in prize money.
The last stop of this season’s WTA Tour kicked off with four different Grand Slam champions in the field, but ultimately went to a player who did not even reach the quarterfinals of a Major in 2025 and was the last to qualify with a win in Ningbo and a run to the Tokyo semifinals.
Rybakina earned 1,500 points — her biggest haul - after being denied any for her 2022 Wimbledon win, when the ATP and WTA penalised the Major for banning Russian and Belarusian players from playing in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
This story is from the November 10, 2025 edition of The Straits Times.
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