26-Year-Old Comes Out on Top in Ningbo Finals
Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, ranked just a single place behind her, faced off in the Ningbo Open Finals and fought it out, going to three sets. The match bordered two minutes shy of two hours, and was Alexandrova’s only three-set match for the entire tournament. Though it was Rybakina’s second long-drawn-out game, she showed no signs of fatigue or slowing down at any point as she swung through powerfully from start to finish, all while intelligently adjusting to her opponent’s barrage on her. This win brings the head-to-head record to three-two, Alexandrova still in the lead.
Game Styles and Strategies Seen
Both athletes are very near mirrors of each other, which might explain their current ranking proximity. Right-handed, incredibly limber, and both on the towering side, Rybakina stands taller at six feet to Alexandrova’s five-foot-nine. They both, of course, share a love and a frightening inclination for power, and their statures and speed give them plenty of advantage to do so. Rybakina’s massive forehand in particular is one that often whizzes by without answer; it’s given her nine titles and the 2022 Wimbledon Championship.
Alexandrova has formidable groundstrokes as well, both of her wings equally dangerous, but not quite to the level of her opponent’s. An edge she holds over her opponent is the expertise in how she wields her serve, not just by aces, but by refusing to be broken. It balances out or even matches the power imbalance in groundstrokes. In her last two matches, Alexandrova faced 21 break points and saved 18 of them. Throughout the match, both had fairly long, high-intensity, all-court rallies that ended either with winners or sprayed errors; both forced and unforced. Rallies that the two were giving their all for, hoping each shot would end or displace the other.
How Rybakina Flipped Control to Her Favor
Alexandrova came out quite hot in the first set, just as she did in her last match, and Rybakina didn’t have many answers for her. The Russian hammered heavy balls deep and just before the baseline through the middle, catching Rybakina off guard over and over, forcing her into error. It was a clear strategy, and she stuck with it, as any time she played a ball short, even in no-man’s land, she faced the punishment of Rybakina slapping it away for a winner. Again, Alexandrova’s serve is one of her best weapons, even if not by constantly acing, she guaranteed herself games with it, hitting nasty angles that gave her opponent no room to slap winner returns like they’d wanted to. In this entire match, much like her games of before, she resisted her serve being broken, facing 10 break points and saving five.
With such a strong start, Alexandrova raced ahead quickly and collected the first before Rybakina could settle or stage a comeback. In the second and third sets, however, the Wimbledon champ found her groove and what made the Russian tick, or rather, what she could not handle. The higher-ranked of the two focused on her footwork, improving it especially at the baseline so that Alexandrova could score fewer free points off it. Furthermore, this improved footwork gave her more chances to do what she did best, slap the ball unforgivably and control every point possible, taking that upper hand away from the Russian.
Now, with these changes, more points flooded her way, and joined her massive service, which found better consistency after her groundstrokes fell in place. Rybakina finished the match with 11 aces to Alexandrova’s two, and her serve was only broken once out of the three times it came close. The Russian really couldn’t do much once her rival found and fixed these and boosted her game significantly. Rybakina had several streams to win points, and Alexandrova had few, which were handled with relative ease, no longer able to rake it in like the first set.
With punishing returns, booming serves, 39 winners, and 36 unforced errors, Rybakina showed incredible patience and strategy, turning the match in her favor to win it 3-6, 6-0, 6-2. It’s her first Ningbo Open and second title for the year. She still fights to qualify for the final place in the WTA Finals Riyadh in November, but still has a fighting chance to pass Mirra Andreeva of Russia, and secure her spot if she makes it to at least the semi-finals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo next week. Andreeva will not be playing and has finished all of her tournaments for the year, unless she makes it to Riyadh.
