Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina will meet on Sunday to contest the Indian Wells final but the stats are surprisingly one-sided in their previous title-winning matches.
World No 1 Sabalenka is the favourite heading into the clash but she surprisingly has often failed to get the best of her Kazakhstani counterpart when it comes to finals.
The two have met in five finals previously and of those, it is Rybakina who has walked away with the trophy.
Their first final meeting at the 2023 Australian Open was the only time Sabalenka has defeated her future opponent and since then, Rybakina has triumphed at 2023 Indian Wells, 2024 Brisbane, 2025 WTA Finals and the Australian Open earlier this year.
That very statistic was put to Rybakina who insisted she was not focusing on things like that.
“Honestly, I haven’t thought about any statistics,” she said following her semi-final victory over Elina Svitolina. “I lost to her in an Australian Open final, not this year, but in 2023, but I always say the same thing: every match is different.
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“Every day is different, every tournament. You can play well one day and then wake up the next and not feel your best. The key is always finding a way. We know each other very well in terms of our game; it’s very much about physicality, but here the ball is very heavy and the rallies are a bit longer than on other hard courts, where everything tends to be a bit faster.
“It will be a difficult match for both of us. We’ll try to serve well and put pressure on each other, so we’ll see what happens.”
As well as attempting to deny Sabalenka an Indian Wells win, Rybakina said she was also gunning for her World No 1 status, something she wanted to achieve by the end of the year.
“It’s an achievement for Aryna, of course. It’s not easy to stay as world number one for so long; you have to be very consistent. She’s shown the great tennis she has over these last two years, so, of course, my goal is to climb even higher in the rankings and one day achieve that number one position.
“I know I still have a lot of work ahead of me, although it also depends on what the other players do. That’s definitely my biggest goal, my next objective. I’ll try to do it this year; I hope it happens.”
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The post The surprising final statistic that gives Elena Rybakina an edge over Aryna Sabalenka ahead of Indian Wells meeting appeared first on Tennis365.
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