Rybakina punches her ticket to WTA Finals in Riyadh
The 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina has sealed the eighth and final spot at the prestigious season-ending WTA Finals in Riyadh, earning a third consecutive qualification after a productive autumn swing that underlined her status among the year’s elite.
The 25-year-old Kazakh sealed the berth late in October, becoming the latest addition to the elite eight-player singles field for the tournament scheduled in Riyadh from November 1 to 8.
The Finals — contested on indoor hard courts — bring together the season’s top performers for the year-end championship.
Rybakina’s qualification capped a strong late-season surge. She captured the title at the Ningbo Open, defeating Ekaterina Alexandrova 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 to claim her 10th career WTA Tour singles trophy and her second title of 2025.
She then reached the semi-final stage of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, beating Victoria Mboko 6-3, 7-6(4) in the quarters to lock in her spot at the semifinals.
Earlier in the season she took the title at the Internationaux de Strasbourg (WTA 500 level) by defeating Liudmila Samsonova 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-1. That became her first title of the year.
She logged consistent quarter-final appearances at multiple events, including a QF at the Washington Open, marking her seventh QF of the season.
On the Grand Slam and WTA 1000 circuit she also amassed more than 10 match-wins, making her one of the few players with such broad-based consistency this year.
These results underscore her steady accumulation of ranking points, enabling her to break into the top eight of the “Race to Riyadh” and secure her place at the year-end event.
The milestone carries added resonance for Asia.
While Rybakina competes under the Kazakh flag, her rise reinforces the continent’s growing footprint in women’s tennis — a trend sustained by recent Grand Slam and WTA 1000 successes from players across East and Central Asia.
Her inclusion in the Riyadh line-up for third straight year, further broadens regional representation at the sport’s showpiece year-end event.
With the Finals just over a week away, Rybakina arrives as one of the contenders capable of producing big moments on the tour’s biggest indoor stage.
Her two titles and series of deep runs this season mean she will be among the players to watch as the tour culminates in Riyadh.
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