Elena Rybakina produced a dominant performance to win the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix for the first time in her career.
The world No.4 stormed to a 6-2, 6-2, win over Marta Kostyuk who had beaten three seeded players en route to the title match. It is the second year in a row that Rybakina has won a title on the dirt after winning the 2023 Italian Open. In her latest clash, she won 81% of her first service points.
“I want to congratulate Marta for the great tournament. You’re playing amazing. Hopefully, we play many more finals,” the new champion said during the trophy presentation.
“Of course, I want to say thank you to my team. Thanks to the Kazakh Federation president for coming to support me, it means a lot.
“To the crowd, It was an unbelievable week and it was nice to play every match here. Your energy gave me a lot during these tough matches, thank you a lot .”
Rybakina, who had only won two Tour-level titles on the clay coming into this week, got off to a dream start in the final by breaking a nervous Kostyuk to love in the opening game. The Kazakh’s power gave her opponent little time to settle into the match as the Ukrainian produced some costly errors. Illustrated in the seventh game when a Kostyuk double fault followed by a backhand error on the next point secured a double break for the fourth seed who went on to seal a 6-1 lead in exactly 30 minutes.
It was a case of deja vu in the second frame with Ryabkina once again breaking immediately. A growingly frustrated Kostyuk did her hardest to fight back and had multiple chances to draw level at 3-3 but failed to capitalise on her opportunities. Paving the way for Rybakina to cruise to victory who closed the match out with the help of another unforced error from across the court.
Rybakina’s latest triumph continues her solid start to the 2024 season. So far this year she has won more matches (26) and titles (three) than anybody else on the WTA Tour. On top of that, she also leads the women’s tour with the most aces produced so far this year.
Meanwhile, Kostyuk is now on the verge of breaking into the world’s top 20 for the first time in her career as a result of her run in Stuttgart. On Monday she will rise to a ranking high of No.21. Overall, she has won seven of her last 11 matches against Top 10 players.
“This is definitely one of the best events in the world,” said Kostyuk who was also runner-up in San Diego.
“I want to congratulate Elena and her team… she’s been having an incredible couple of seasons already. It’s always a pleasure playing against you, especially in a final.
“I also want to dedicate this final to my team. (An) incredible year so far. Thank you for being by my side.”
Both players will now head to Spain for the Madrid Open which is one of only two WTA 1000 clay-court tournaments taking place before next month’s French Open.
