RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The last player to qualify turned out to be the last one standing. Elena Rybakina stretched her win streak to 11 straight matches on Saturday night, defeating World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (0) to capture the WTA Finals title.<\/p>\n
With both finalists unbeaten in group play, Rybakina earned\u00a0$5.235 million\u00a0for the victory, while Sabalenka took home\u00a0$2.695 million\u00a0as runner-up. Even in defeat, Sabalenka\u2019s total set a new WTA single-season prize-money record, surpassing Serena Williams\u2019 2013 mark.<\/p>\n
Rybakina\u2019s victory capped a three-title season that included Strasbourg and Ningbo and made her the 10th consecutive first-time WTA Finals champion. She finished 58\u201319, her strongest year to date. As the No. 6 seed, she became the fourth player in the past seven years to win the title from that position, following\u00a0Caroline Wozniacki,\u00a0Elina Svitolina\u00a0and\u00a0Garbi\u00f1e Muguruza.<\/p>\n
The victory narrowed her rivalry with Sabalenka to\u00a08\u20136, and Rybakina also improved to\u00a08\u20136 against No. 1-ranked players — her first win over a reigning No. 1 since beating Sabalenka in the\u00a0Cincinnati\u00a0quarterfinals earlier this summer. Rybakina became the\u00a0first player representing an Asian country\u00a0to win the WTA Finals and the\u00a0fourth since 2003\u00a0to defeat a World No. 1 to secure the title, joining Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters and Dominika Cibulkova.<\/p>\n
The opening set was a heavy-hitting tug-of-war, both players landing big first serves until Rybakina found her range midway through. She broke Sabalenka at love to go up 4\u20132, sealing the game when the World No. 1 netted an overhead. Serving for the set at 5\u20133, Rybakina stayed composed and capitalized on two errors to close it out 6\u20133.<\/p>\n
In the second, Sabalenka saved two break points in the third game and two more at 4\u20134 to stay even. But her resistance faded in the tiebreak \u2014 a situation that had been her strength all year. Sabalenka came in with a 22\u20132 record in breakers, including a run of 19 straight that ended in Wuhan. This time, though, she didn\u2019t win a single point, as Rybakina ran away with it to seal the title in straight sets.<\/p>\n
Sabalenka closes 2025 with\u00a0four titles and 63 match-wins, including the\u00a0US Open\u00a0and\u00a0two WTA 1000\u00a0trophies, and will end as the\u00a0year-end No. 1 for a second straight season, one of only seven women to hold the top spot across consecutive calendar years. Rybakina will finish at a career-high\u00a0No. 5.<\/p>\n
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