Since lifting the Ningbo Open trophy in October 2025, Elena Rybakina has been in magnificent form. She entered the WTA Finals as the sixth seed and defied all odds against the World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the championship match to lift the title. The Kazakh Champion started this year with a bang, defeating the Belarusian again to become a two-time Grand Slam Champion.
Now that she is set to be the World No. 2 after the rankings refresh this week, Rybakina spoke about the top spot, held by Sabalenka for over a year.
Elena Rybakina Makes Her Feelings Clear on the World No. 1 Position Held by Aryna Sabalenka
Rybakina is currently ranked No. 3 in the world, but once the WTA 1000 tournament in Indian Wells concludes and the rankings refresh, she will reach her career-high at World No. 2, dethroning Iga Świątek from the spot.
Last year, she suffered a Round of 16 exit at the hands of the eventual winner Mirra Andreeva, and this year’s semifinal run gave her a massive point boost. This, combined with Świątek’s quarterfinal exit this year, after last year’s semifinal finish, cost her crucial points, making way for the reigning Australian Open Champion.
When asked about Sabalenka’s reign as the top-ranked woman, Rybakina acknowledged the effort required to achieve such a feat. “It’s a great achievement, of course, and to stay so long as No. 1, you need to be very consistent. She showed great tennis for the past couple of years.”
In her press conference after reaching the final of the Indian Wells, where she will face Sabalenka again, Rybakina made her goal clear, saying, “So, my goal is to get even higher in the ranking, to get this position as No. 1, but I know it’s still a lot of work. It all depends on the other players, too.”
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She gave a definitive timeline for when she will achieve this goal, adding, “Yeah that’s my biggest goal, next goal. So I will try to do it this year, and hopefully it happens.”
This confidence from the Kazakh Champion is backed by her recent dominant performances, especially her semifinals performance at Indian Wells. She faced the in-form Elina Svitolina, who had just defeated the two-time champion Świątek in the quarterfinals, and secured a straight-sets victory over her.
Even though the Ukrainian started by breaking the Kazakh early in the first set, she broke back immediately, then secured another break in the 11th game, and finished the set 7-5. The second set was even more straightforward, as Rybakina broke her opponent twice to take a 5-1 lead.
However, Svitolina saved a match point during the seventh game, holding her serve and breaking Rybakina in the next game, saving another match point. The 2023 Champion then locked in and finished the match in the 10th game with a 7-5, 6-4 win.
Rybakina’s Next Big Task at Indian Wells
After securing her spot in the championship match, Rybakina’s work isn’t done; in fact, she has the biggest task in her hands right now. She will face the World No. 1 Sabalenka in the final one more time, marking their third consecutive final meeting. Looking at the head-to-head record between these players, the Belarusian holds a slight edge over the Kazakh, with an 8-7 record.
According to PFSN’s exclusive interactive simulator, this holds true, as Sabalenka has a 60% chance of lifting her first singles title at Indian Wells, while Rybakina has only a 40% chance of winning her second.
But one thing to note here is that, in their last four matches, Rybakina has won three of them and two of them in straight sets. Combined with the 2023 Championship match at Tennis Paradise, Rybakina defeated Sabalenka to become the Indian Wells Women’s Singles Champion that year, which gives her a slight edge over the Belarusian.
Following the 2025 WTA Finals championship match and the 2026 Australian Open final, Rybakina has a slight psychological edge over Sabalenka; however, this could also fuel the Belarusian to take revenge and lift her first title at Tennis Paradise.
