A massive upset in Riyadh! The mighty challenger from Kazakhstan has now breached the Tigress’ lair. Literally, no one predicted Elena Rybakina to win the third group stage against Aryna Sabalenka. Rybakina had lost both of her previous matches before this, but on the other hand, Sabalenka entered this contest without losing a set in this tournament. A loss heading into the SF. Where did it go wrong, though? The American tennis legend, Tracy Austin, has a thing or two to say about this!

Well, Tracy Austin, on November 6th episode of the Tennis Channel Live Podcast, talked about Rybakina’s sixth out of last eight matches against Sabalenka and her recent pair up with Goran Ivanišević. Then, the discussion shifted to Saba’s defeat, which broke her seven-match winning streak. “I’m hoping that she (Sabalenka) can talk to her team. You know it’s amazing. Did she have a little bit of letdown after we thought Sabalenka was going to have to win all three round-robin matches in order to clinch that year-end-number one? Only had to win two because Swiatek lost yesterday. So, maybe she had a little bit of letdown.”

In a thrilling encounter, Rybakina overcame Sabalenka in a tense three-setter. After a tight first set, Sabalenka unleashed a barrage of winners to level the match. Undeterred, Rybakina dug deep, relying on her powerful groundstrokes and precise serving to clinch the deciding set and claim victory. The 61-year-old American former world number one, Tracy Austin, added, “To me, she (Sabalenka) seemed a lot off-balanced today. She wasn’t as clean with her movements and so much credit to Rybakina for getting her on her backfoot. But I think that Sabalenka has a day off tomorrow, so she can set up for the SF.”

Aryna Sabalenka secured her year-end-number one ranking on Tuesday, and now perhaps her sole goal for this season would be to win her first WTA Finals title. What did both the players say after the match? Elena Rybakina said, “It was a tough match. I’m really happy I managed to win. It’s nice to finish the year with at least one win against the world #1.” Aryna Sabalenka portrayed her disappointment by saying, “Well, honestly, this is something I have to learn, how to keep myself motivated and hungry and being 100% on in this kind of matches when you know that you’re already in the semis and the only motivation for you is points and money. But that was tricky.”

She further added, “I would say that emotionally, the first set, I was kind of off — not kind of — I was really off, and that’s something I have to fix before the semis.” So a lot of work to do for her and her team before the semis. Do you know this isn’t the first time that Aryna Sabalenka’s team has been brought into a discussion after playing a match against Elena Rybakina?

“That’s all your fault guys,” – Aryna Sabalenka jokingly blames her teammates for her defeat against Elena Rybakina in Brisbane

Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina have faced each other ten times in their careers so far. Currently, Sabalenka has a lead of 6-4 over Rybakina in the H2H scoreline. This was their third meeting in the 2024 season. In the first meeting of this season, Elena Rybakina clinched the Brisbane International title by defeating Aryna Sabalenka by 6-0,6-3. Shortly after facing defeat at the hands of Rybakina, the Belarusian took a hilarious dig at her coaching team.

During the post-match trophy presentation ceremony, Aryna Sabalenka said, “Couple of words to my team. You did a bad job today. Wow. 6-0, 6-3. That’s all your fault guys (laughs).” However, her opponent in that match, Elena Rybakina, disagreed with that statement! She said, “Congrats to your team. They are doing a good job. No matter what Aryna says, you are doing a really good job.”

Apart from a few tournaments, Aryna Sabalenka has made full use of her opportunities this season. She has won a total of 4 titles this season and guess what? Two of them are her two major titles (AO & US Open). According to Aryna Sabalenka, “This season, I felt pretty confident about performing well on natural surfaces until stomach issues halted me at Roland Garros, disrupting my plans. That moment was mentally very painful; then at Wimbledon, problems resurfaced, this time a shoulder injury.”

She further added, “I am confident that I can perform well at those Grand Slams, as I’ve shown in previous years, so we’ll see if I can perform well there in 2025, provided my body allows it. We’re doing everything possible to ensure what I went through this season doesn’t happen again, but I’m convinced I can do well.” Do you think Sabalenka can win the WTA Finals this year, though?