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Elena Rybakina won her first title of the season, and her maiden WTA 1000 title, at the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday (March 19). She defeated second seed Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(11), 6-4 in the final to clinch her first title since her Wimbledon triumph last year.
Rybakina has shown a propensity to raise her game against top-ranked opponents in the recent past. Her win against Sabalenka was her fourth consecutive victory over top-2 ranked opponents.
The Kazakh defeated the then World No. 2 Ons Jabeur in the 2022 Wimbledon Championships final and beat World No. 1 Iga Swiatek twice this season (Australian Open Round of 16 and the Indian Wells semifinals) before accounting for current World No. 2 Sabalenka now.
Speaking at her post-match press conference at Indian Wells, Rybakina stated that her biggest goal in the sport is to become the World No. 1, though she acknowledged that there's a long way to go before she achieves that.
"I think the biggest goal is of course to be No. 1. There is still long way to go. So this is the kind of end goal, I would say. For now, I'm 7, but you know how quickly the ranking change. So I need to always focus on the next tournament I play. Yeah, I'm just trying not to think so much about the ranking, especially now since it's a long way to go," she said, with a smile.
Elena Rybakina also opined that it was too early in the season to keep an eye on the Race to Shenzhen (WTA Finals) rankings, saying:
"I know that now I'm No. 2, I think so. But, I mean, it's just the beginning of the year, so still many tournaments ahead. It doesn't mean anything in the beginning, I think."
Elena Rybakina puts Indian Wells title celebrations on hold, gears up for Miami Open
Despite winning her fourth career WTA singles title, Elena Rybakina is putting all celebrations on hold as she gears up to compete at the Miami Open, which gets underway on Tuesday (March 21) at the Hard Rock Stadium.
"Probably nothing special [celebrations]. Just because tomorrow we have to leave already to Miami, so we will stay with the team in the house to have just nice dinner. Then we have to quickly pack and go already to Miami," she said.
After Iga Swiatek completed the Sunshine Double last year, Rybakina was asked if she was looking forward to following in the Pole's footsteps. The Kazakh declined to get ahead of herself and stated that she will take it one match at a time.
"Well, I will try to focus just on every match, because I think that it's really tough. I know Iga did this. Big respect, because I think it's still kind of long trip to Miami. It's completely different conditions. So I think that that's the goal in the end of the day. But when I go on the court, when I'm already there, I'm just trying to practice and prepare for each match," she opined.
