Elena Rybakina who played her second round-robin match of the tournament today thanked the spectators for supporting her during her match late at night.
Rybakina was up against Maria Sakkari today in the GNP Seguros WTA Finals in Cancun. She won the match 6-0, 6-7(4), 7-6(2) to keep her hopes alive for advancing to the semifinals.
It is already the third day of the tournament and it witnessed two matches from the Bacalar Group. Elena Rybakina had a tough match against Maria Sakkari today. Both of them lost their previous matches and were fighting for a win. Elena Rybakina lost to Jessica Pegula 5-7, 2-6 in straight sets and Maria Sakkari lost to Aryna Sabalenka 6-0, 6-1 in straight sets.
Coming to this match, Maria Sakkari was lacking the confidence to get her form back since her loss in the opener and lost the first set 6-0. And it was the second set when she finally managed to get a breakthrough and won the tiebreaker in the second set. The third set was also pushed to a tiebreaker but it was Rybakina who got the better of Sakkari and won the match finally.
In the post-match interview, she mentioned how she struggled to move on the court and she thanked the spectators for staying up late and supporting them. She will play her last match against Aryna Sabalenka with high hopes.
“I was trying to be not so negative which is not easy but yeah thank you. Thank you to everyone who stayed to watch us and support it…. It really helps.”
-Elena Rybakina during her post match interview
But the campaign has ended for the struggling Sakkari, who lost both matches and has no chance of finishing in the top 2.
“I didn’t feel that I am a top player” Elena Rybakina was upset about not getting ranking points for Wimbledon 2022 victory
Elena Rybakina defeated Ons Jabeur 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the final to win the 2022 Wimbledon Open.
She became the first Kazakh player to win a Grand Slam. Despite winning the Grand Slam she did not get any ranking points. It was due to the Russia-Ukraine war that the ATP and WTA players from Russia and Belarus did not get any ranking points.
Winning the Wimbledon was a dream come true for her. She would have earned 2000 ranking points after moving up to the top 10 in the rankings. And a place in the top 10 would have helped her going into the US Open and the year-ending WTA Finals.
But due to the snub, she entered the US Open as No. 25 and was out of the race to the WTA Finals. She did not feel like a ‘top player’ in big tournaments. In a podcast recently, she mentioned how difficult it has been for her to come out of that phase.
“It was not easy to overcome this win because, of course, after winning the title, you are like ‘Wow, I hope it was not just by mistake, or by luck or whatever it is’. In my case, it was a bit different that I didn’t get the point, so on the rest of the tournaments and another big Grand Slam, I didn’t feel that I am a top player“
-Elena Rybakina on the Mind Set Win podcast
