Elena Rybakina has emerged victorious in the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open.
Before destroying Kasatkina’s dreams in the final, the Moscow-born Kazakh had a fantastic week in Abu Dhabi, winning against Danielle Collins, Cristina Bucsa, and No. 8 seed Liudmila Samsonova.
After winning her first title of the year in Brisbane last month, the victory moved Rybakina to 11-2 on the season. She will now travel to Doha for the Qatar Open, the first WTA 1000 event of the season.
“A tough week, especially the last matches, and tomorrow is already a match in Doha [for Kasatkina],” Rybakina stated.
“Maybe we can play the final there if we both recover and do well there. “All of the fans that came out to support us are appreciated. The atmosphere has been incredible, and it means a lot to see the flags of Kazakhstan.”
Rybakina breezed through the opening set, helped in part by 16 unforced errors from Kasatkina, who had just finished a three-hour marathon to defeat Beatriz Haddad Maia in the semifinals.
Kasatkina threw caution to the breeze and pulled in Rybakina to tie the score at 4-4 despite breaking down in the next game. After a brief pause due to rain, Rybakina picked up the pace and used a fierce return game to break in the next game before serving out for a convincing victory.
Second place “Losing in the finals is not a pleasant thing, but it’s better to play three finals than to lose three first rounds, as Daniil Medvedev stated after the Australian Open,” stated Kasatkina. I’ll accept it, then.
Happy birthday, by the way, on his birthday today.”
Heather Watson’s hopes of winning the doubles title were dashed earlier in the day when Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated the British player and Linda Noskova 6-4 7-6 (7-4) in the championship match.