Elena Rybakina stuns Sabalenka to win the WTA Finals title in Riyadh

Elena Rybakina is the WTA Finals champion. The world No. 6 from Kazakhstan defeated world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (0) in the final at the King Saud University Indoor Arena in Riyadh on November 8, closing out the season-ending championship in one hour and 47 minutes and completing a perfect 5-0 week against the top eight women in the world.

It is the biggest title of Rybakina's career since she won Wimbledon in 2022, and it carries a historic weight that goes beyond a single trophy. She is the first player from Kazakhstan, and the first representing an Asian country, to win the WTA Finals singles title. She is also the 10th consecutive first-time champion at the season-ending event, and she did it as the last player to qualify for the eight-woman field.

A serve that would not break

Rybakina's serve decided the final. She struck 13 aces, hit 36 winners against just 22 unforced errors, and converted the only break of the match, one of six break-point chances she created. She broke Sabalenka at love to lead 4-2 in the opening set, sealing the game when the world No. 1 netted an overhead, and then served out the set 6-3, staying composed as Sabalenka's errors piled up. Across the whole week in Riyadh she fired 48 aces, a mark of how completely her delivery carried her through the field.

The second set was tighter. Sabalenka saved four break points to force a tiebreak, refusing to let the match slip away without a fight, but the tiebreak belonged entirely to Rybakina. She swept it 7-0, only the second love tiebreak win of her career after Rome in 2022, and the first time Sabalenka had ever lost a tiebreak without winning a point.

It was a second defeat in a WTA Finals championship match for Sabalenka, who also lost the 2022 final to Caroline Garcia in Fort Worth. The two hardest hitters on tour produced a final worthy of the season's last match, but Rybakina's serving made the difference on the night: for all her power, Sabalenka could not manufacture a single break of serve across one hour and 47 minutes.

The road through Riyadh

Rybakina arrived in Saudi Arabia as the last of the eight players to qualify, earning her place by winning the 500-level title in Ningbo and reaching the semi-finals in Tokyo before withdrawing from that tournament. She went 3-0 in round-robin play, then rallied past fifth-seeded Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the November 7 semi-final on the back of 15 aces, clinching the win on her first match point. The final extended her winning streak to 11 matches, the longest run of her season, and was her tour-best 45th hardcourt win of the season.

Sabalenka's path to the final was harder. The world No. 1 needed two hours and 21 minutes to overcome fourth-seeded Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in a rematch of the US Open final, striking 12 aces and saving six of nine break points. The win was her tour-best 63rd victory of the season, and it put her into her second WTA Finals title match, three years after losing the 2022 final to Caroline Garcia, with both finalists arriving unbeaten for the week.

What the title changes

The rewards match the scale of the achievement. Rybakina collected a record $5.235 million for the victory, while Sabalenka took home $2.695 million as runner-up. Rybakina will finish the year ranked No. 5 in the world, closing her strongest season to date at 58-19, with three titles from Strasbourg, Ningbo and now Riyadh. The win also narrowed her rivalry with Sabalenka to 8-6 in the Belarusian's favour, with three of Rybakina's victories now coming in finals, after Indian Wells in 2023 and Brisbane in 2024.

For Sabalenka, the defeat does not undo a season that still ends with her ranked No. 1 in the world for a second straight year. The four-time Grand Slam winner reached her eighth final of 2025 in Riyadh, but on the night the last qualifier to arrive became the last one standing, and Rybakina's serve left the world No. 1 with no answer. The season closes with Rybakina on an 11-match winning streak and Sabalenka still on top of the rankings, a rivalry that has now delivered three finals and shows no sign of slowing down.