Elena Rybakina is learning that clay courts are no match for her powerful serve and powerful groundstrokes.
When Ukrainian opponent Anhelina Kalinina withdrew due to a left thigh injury early in the second set of the rain-delayed Italian Open final on Saturday, the Wimbledon champion was leading 21-9 with wins.
Rybakin stated, “I can play well on any surfaces. I simply need to maybe be more physically prepared and maybe have a lot more preparation for clay.
Rybakina has had a successful year, making it to the Australian Open final, winning an elite championship in Indian Wells, and finishing second in Miami.
She said, “I’m happy that I can sustain this level. “I can notice physical advancements on the court…. I believe there is still much space for improvement.
Rybakina will reach a career-high ranking of No. 4 on Monday and will be a contender at the French Open, which begins the following weekend.
She is moving at 125 mph or 200 kph. Like no one else on the circuit, she also produces winners, Kalinina remarked. She has an excellent chance of winning, but anybody can win in Paris.
If she continues to perform in this manner, she may very well become the next world No. 1.
Rybakina had a 6-4, 1-0, 15-0 lead when Kalinina requested a trainer while clutching her left leg and crying. Then she realized she couldn’t go on.
Nearly 11 p.m. on Saturday marked the start of the final, and Rybakina won the match around 2:00 a.m. on Sunday.
The audience, who had waited under cover of rain for hours before the night session began, whistled when Kalinina stated, “I’m really sorry that I couldn’t play,” during the awards ceremony.
On Sunday, Holger Rune will compete against Daniil Medvedev in the men’s final.
As Medvedev defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5, 7-5 in a semifinal that was delayed twice in the opening set for a total of about 412 hours due to rain, 20-year-old Rune outlasted Casper Ruud 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-2.
On clay, Rybakina won her largest victory. Her one other victory on display was in Bucharest in 2019.
The greatest final of her career was being played by the 47th-ranked Kalinina, who has been performing for her war-torn nation.
During a Russian airstrike last year, Kalinina’s family house was completely destroyed. Additionally, her elderly grandparents had to move from the Russian-held city of Nova Kakhovka in the south to Kyiv. In Kyiv, Kalinina’s parents instruct tennis, and she said on Friday that a “huge, huge bomb” went off nearby their academy a few days ago.
Rybakina, who was born in Moscow, has been playing for Kazakhstan since that nation volunteered to assist her tennis career in 2018.
After winning the season’s longest women’s match, which lasted 3 hours, 41 minutes against Beatriz Haddad Maia in the quarterfinals, Kalinina played on the court for more than four hours longer than Rybakina did before the final. Veronika Kudermetova of Russia was defeated by her in a tense semifinal match in three sets as well.
I feel as if I have reached my physical capacity today, Kalinina stated.
Top-ranked In the quarterfinal matchup against Rybakina, Iga Swiatek also had to quit in the third set due to a right thigh injury.
Rune went to 7-1 in his career against top-five players after defeating six-time Rome winner Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.
When I play the greatest players in the world, I sometimes play my best tennis, according to Rune. “Against those players, you need it.”
Being in the final was a significant improvement for Medvedev, who had each of his previous three visits in Rome ended with a loss in the first game. When the French Open begins the following weekend, Medvedev will be seeded second if he defeats Rune and moves back up to No. 2 in the rankings.
For Medvedev, it will be his first clay-court final since 2019 and only his second overall.
More than six hours after the match began, he converted his first match point and danced in celebration.
It’s like being fully inebriated at a bar, Medvedev added. “You feel like you are the god of the dance floor while you are dancing, and I have a lot of friends that think this way. However, that was not the issue when they played you the video.
The challenge of the delays was one that Medvedev eagerly accepted: “Sometimes it may throw you off, and you can be a little bit upset. I don’t know why, but I was sort of giggling today.
Rune, who is rated eighth, trailed Ruud, who had triumphed in all four of their prior encounters, by a set and a break until he beat him.
It’s absurd. The final two matches, first against Novak and then against Casper, were some of my greatest tennis, according to Rune.
After losing to Andrey Rublev in Monte Carlo and defeating Botic van de Zandschulp in Munich, Rune will be competing in his third clay-court final of the year.
He plays fearlessly and aggressively, which is extremely amazing on clay, according to Ruud.
Both players often raced down drop shots and surged back and forth across the baseline throughout the semifinal, which included many memorable highlights.
There were several excellent rallies, according to Ruud. The game was enjoyable to play.