2022 Wimbledon Champion Elena Rybakina ended her crazy trip to Riyadh on Friday in Tokyo.
The seventh-ranked Kazakh booked her place in the eight-player field thanks to her quarter-final win over Canada’s Victoria Mboko (6-3 7-6(4)) at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, which pushed her past Mirra Andreeva into the rankings.
Rybakina, who won the title in Ningbo last week, extends her current winning streak to six. It took her 92 minutes to avenge a three-set loss to the Canadian teenager earlier this summer.
Rybakina joins Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Amanda Anisimova, Madison Keys and Jasmine Paolini in the eight-player WTA Finals field.
This will be Rybakina’s third consecutive appearance in the WTA finals. She has won two matches and lost four, and has yet to reach the semifinals of the tournament’s season-ending championships.
Rybakina will face Linda Noskova in the semi-finals in Tokyo. Belinda Bencic and Sofia Kenin will meet in the other semi-final.
