CoCo Vandeweghe highlights why Elena Rybakina troubles Aryna Sabalenka so often

Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina are set to meet again later today, a month and a half after their thrilling Australian Open final.

Their Indian Wells final is about more than just the title, with both players looking to send a clear message early in the season.

For Rybakina, it is a chance to close the gap on Sabalenka and continue her rise up the rankings.

Sabalenka, meanwhile, will be aiming to strengthen her hold on the top spot.

Even so, her record against Rybakina is far from convincing, and CoCo Vandeweghe shared her thoughts on it.

Aryna Sabalenka has been sent a warning by CoCo Vandeweghe ahead of the Indian Wells final vs Elena Rybakina

Vandeweghe was speaking on the Tennis Channel before the match and had plenty of praise for Rybakina, highlighting her impressive record in finals: “It just shows that when she gets deep in a draw, Elena Rybakina, she is dominant.

“We saw a couple of other stats where she’s 5 and 0 in finals. So you see her game come to full form, and her ability to tack her game onto the best in the world, and that’s not easy to do when you’re facing world number one, top ten players, to be able to use your game and actually beat them at first strike tennis, and Rybakina has shown that she has done it more times than not.”

Chris Eubanks added: “If she’s able to get to the final, clearly, that serve is firing, her ground game is firing, we’ve seen even in recent months, her movement has gotten a lot better. So if she’s able to play her way into form and reach a final, you know you were in tune for an inform Elena Rybakina. She can be very difficult to topple.”

Vandeweghe went on to break down why Rybakina tends to have success not just in finals but specifically against Sabalenka.

She explained: “The reason why is because their games are very similar in the regard that their backhands are the more solid wing, the forehands can break down.

“And when you see from Aryna Sabalenka, even if she’s having a good serving day, Rybakina’s not letting her into these rallies because she can handle the backhand to backhand cross-court rallies, so that just makes Sabalenka pull the trigger [down the] line a bit quicker than she wants.”

Head-to-head: Aryna Sabalenka vs Elena Rybakina in finals

Even though Sabalenka holds a narrow edge over Rybakina in their overall head-to-head, the story changes when you look at their meetings in finals.

For Sabalenka, that difference is likely to stand out. While she is regularly at the sharp end of tournaments, she has not always turned those runs into as many trophies as her talent suggests she should have.

Her overall record in finals stands at 22 wins and 20 losses – a closer margin than you would expect for a player of her stature.

Against Rybakina specifically, Sabalenka has reached five finals but has come out on top just once – in the 2023 Australian Open final.

The other four went the Kazakh’s way: Indian Wells and Brisbane in 2023 and 2024 respectively, along with last year’s WTA Finals and this year’s Australian Open rematch.

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