London, July 9 (BNA) Elena Rybakina defeated Anas Gabor 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the Wimbledon final on Saturday, becoming the first tennis player from Kazakhstan to win the Grand Slam singles tournament.
Rybakina is a 23-year-old born in Moscow who has represented Kazakhstan since 2018, when that country offered funding to support her tennis career, according to the Associated Press.
Rybakina is ranked No. 23. Since the WTA computer rankings began in 1975, only one woman ranked below Rybakina has won Wimbledon – Venus Williams in 2007 placed 31, even though she was No. 1 and has already won three of her career The Five Professional Wimbledon Awards.
It was the first women’s title match since 1962 at Wimbledon between two players who were making their first major finals.
Rybakina used her big serve and powerful forehand to beat Jabeur’s mix of rolls and slides in Center Court. Rybakina ended Jabeur’s 12th-place winning streak, which came entirely on grass.
Rybakina showed off her best hits right away: big serve — she led the tour in aces in 2022 by a wide margin — and flat forehands.
There were glimpses of both in the opening game, including the 119-mph service winner at the match’s starting point. It wasn’t long before Jaber, 27, from Tunisia, acclimatised.
With Rybakina’s second service game, Jabeur has been reading better service and using her brand’s diversity to create less attractive opportunities for core strength.
A squash-style forehand drove a forehand into the net to earn a stopping point, which Jabeur turned to lead 2-1 by putting the 120-mph transmission into play and then watching Rybakina sail with a long backhand.
Rybakina’s errors escalated. Shot into the net with the playing field fully open. A cornered forehand after Jaber barely got a short response. When another forehand deflected, Jaber broke down in love to take the opening set and threw as high as she could as she walked to the sideline.
However, this would not be a quick victory. Rybakina stabilized and her service became more effective. Jaber is starting to have trouble using all of her creativity.
As Jaber’s forehand became increasingly problematic, Rybakina got her serve and ground strokes in the second and third sets.
Rybakina, who beat Serena Williams at the French Open last year, finally got her first break chance to start the second set and went 1-0 up when Jabeur missed a forehand. After saving four break points over the next two service games, Rybakina broke again and quickly led 5-1.
Jabeur leads the Women’s Tour with 13 wins in three hurdles this season, but Rybakina has come out much stronger in the seed this time. She broke again to start in the third, and went up 3-1.
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