Sixth-seeded Elena Rybakina pocketed $5.235 million by defeating World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the championship match of the WTA Finals on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion from Kazakhstan, recorded 13 aces and extended her winning streak to 11 matches with a 6-3, 7-6 (0) victory on Saturday.
Rybakina claimed the largest payout in women’s tennis history and her first trophy in the season-ending championships after dispatching the four-time Grand Slam winner in 1 hour, 47 minutes. She also became the first player representing an Asian country to win the event.
Rybakina relied heavily on her serve, as she had all tournament. She registered 48 aces in Riyadh.
Rybakina improved to 2-2 in four meetings this year with Sabalenka, who received $2.695 million for her second-place finish. Sabalenka, the U.S. Open champion, will end the year at No. 1 for the second consecutive season.
Although she fell short on Saturday, Sabalenka set a new WTA Tour record for most prize money in a single season. She made slightly over $15 million to surpass the $12,385,572 earned by Serena Williams in 2013.
Sabalenka, in fact, was the last player to defeat Rybakina, accomplishing the feat in the Wuhan quarterfinals four weeks ago.
Rybakina, who will finish at a career-high No. 5, broke Sabalenka to take a 4-2 lead in the first and benefited from two errors to close out the set.
Rybakina saved two break points in the third and fourth games to remain even in the second set.
Sabalenka was unable to level the match and faltered during the tiebreak, losing all seven points.
–Field Level Media
