Aryna Sabalenka has been a force to reckon with in women’s tennis this season. She has already played 60 matches this season, winning 50. Although the world No. 1 is yet to win a Grand Slam title this season, she’s already bagged three titles so far. After facing a defeat at the hands of Amanda Anisimova in the Wimbledon semis, Sabalenka made a strong start at the Cincinnati Open. She started her title defense campaign with a straight-sets victory against Marketa Vondrousova, but she had to steal victory from the jaws of defeat against Emma Raducanu in the next match. Although she yet again showcased her dominance in her R16 match against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (6-1,7-5), Aryna Sabalenka’s journey in Cincy came to an end at the hands of her familiar rival: Elena Rybakina.

This was their twelfth meeting, and before this match, the Belarusian shared a few words about her opponent. Sabalenka said, “It’s going to be a really aggressive match. Two, I’d say, two big servers and we played a lot of great battles in the past and I always enjoyed playing against her. It’s just going to be another great match, another great opportunity to work on something new to improve and I’m excited to face her in the quarterfinals.”

Elena Rybakina got a grip of this right from the start. Coming straight off from a victory against the Australian Open champion, Madison Keys in the previous match, she made the first set look like a pretty much one-sided affair. After winning the first set by 6-1, she secured the second one by 6-4. But the most noticeable aspect of her game was her serve. Rybakina fired eleven aces in this match and committed just one double fault. While Sabalenka had hit just four aces. Reacting to this after the match in her post-match interview, Rybakina said, “I’m happy with the serve. It was the key. We’re both big hitters. Today I served really well. If Aryna serves well, it’s completely different. Hopefully I continue like this.”

With this win has now taken their H2H record to 5-7!.World number 10, Elena Rybakina (4) has now also equalled Petra Kvitova and Aryna Sabalenka for he most wins against the world number one in WTA 1000 since the format introduction in 2009. What else did she say after this incredible win, though?

After beating Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina now sets up for yet another blockbuster clash

If we take a look at her numbers, Elena Rybakina has a win-loss record of 41-15 this season. She has won only one title this year, and it came on clay in Strasbourg. Her coach, Davide Sanguinetti, has already set some challenging goals for her, and now it’s time to see if she can deliver in these big occasions.

Talking about Elena Rybakina in a previous interview with Italian broadcaster Super Tennis TV, Sanguinetti said, “Next year I would like to take her to number one in the world: she has all the potential.” But to be the world number one, she needs to beat players like Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek.

She has already beaten one in Cincinnati, now it’s time for her to repeat the same thing against Iga Swiatek. Currently, Elena Rybakina has a 4-5 record against the Pole. So, she’s well aware of the threat of this former world number one.

In her post-match interview Rybakina said, “Well, she’s a great player, so of course it’s going to be a difficult match. I will try to focus on myself and try to recover as well. So, yeah, hopefully I can show a good tennis [match] and thanks again for coming.” The former world number 3 has had success in most of the major tournaments, except the US Open. Other than winning the Wimbledon Championships in 2022, Rybakina had reached the finals of the Australian Open in 2023. She also made it to the quarterfinal of the French Open twice (2021, 2024). But at the US Open, her best record has been reaching the third round.

Can she change her fortunes this time? Well, winning the title in Cincinnati will definitely boost her chances in the last major tournament of the 2025 season. What are your thoughts on this, though?