Elena Rybakina (WTA No. 4) won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix for the first time. In the final of the WTA tournament in Stuttgart she won against Marta Kostyuk in two sets.
by Florian Goosmann from Stuttgart
last edited: April 21, 2024, 4:37 p.m
Elena Rybakina
Good length plus speed: Anyone who can achieve that in tennis is difficult to beat.
Most recent example: Elena Rybakina. The Kazakh brought this combination almost entirely onto the court in the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. Result: a clear 6:2, 6:2 victory over Marta Kostyuk, who rarely came out of the defensive and was hardly able to set her own accents.
Rybakina started the match straight away with a break (long returns!), and on her own serve she didn’t allow anything (speed!), especially in the first round. Only in the second round at 3:2 did she have to fend off three break chances, chances for Kostyuk to maybe be able to do something after all. That wasn’t the case, Rybakina managed a second break to make the preliminary decision. Kostyuk, the fighter, didn’t give up, fended off three match points – but in the end Rybakina took chance number 4 to win.
Rybakina presented herself strongly throughout the tournament, but had to go through three sets in all three matches up to the final – against Veronika Kudermetova, Jasmine Paolini and in the semifinals against world number one Iga Swiatek. Rybakina was the first player to beat Swiatek at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
Rybakina sits on the passenger side
“I would like to congratulate Marta on a great tournament, a great season. And of course my team,” said Rybakina at the award ceremony. “It was nice to play every match here.”
“This is definitely one of the best tournaments in the world,” Kostyuk said. “I congratulate Elena, she is having a great season.” Her own team also received praise – “Thank you for standing by my side. I’m also so proud to see so many Ukrainian flags here throughout the week.”
However, Rybakina only took part in the traditional entry of the winning Porsche, a lilac-colored Taycan 4S Sport Turismo, on the passenger side – she is still working on her driver’s license. Porsche boss Oliver Blume ultimately took care of it himself.
Kostyuk scratches the top 20
But a great tournament is also coming to an end for Kostyuk, in which she was on the court for more than ten hours and had to fend off five match points against Qinwen Zheng. And in the quarterfinals against Coco Gauff, despite seven missed match points, she kept her nerve.
Thanks to her strong start to the season, Kostyuk will continue to climb in the rankings and will be number 21 in the world from Monday.
Chan and Kudermetova win in doubles
In doubles, Hao Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova won the title with a final win against Ulrikke Eikeri and Ingrid Neel – 4:6, 6:3, [10:2] it said here. Laura Siegemund had to cancel her semi-final due to injury.
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix: Elena Rybakina in an interview – “I haven’t changed, that’s for sure”
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2024-04-21 12:18:00
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