STUTTGART, Germany — World No.4 Elena Rybakina captured her third Hologic WTA Tour title of the year on Sunday after defeating No.27 Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-2 in the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
Stuttgart is Rybakina’s eighth career title and third on clay, following wins at 2023 Rome and 2019 Bucharest. The 24-year-old leaves Germany with the outright lead in titles this season, adding Stuttgart to a collection that includes Brisbane and Abu Dhabi. The victory over Kostyuk was her tour-leading 26th win of the season.
Rybakina came into Sunday’s final after snapping World No.1 Iga Swiatek’s 10-match win streak at Stuttgart, winning 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in the semifinals.
Playing in her fifth final of the season, Rybakina opened the match by breaking Kostyuk’s serve and never looked back. With efficient serving, the tour’s ace leader sealed the first set after just 30 minutes. She lost just one point behind her first serve (15 of 16) and did not face a break point. Rybakina won 30 points to Kostyuk’s 17.
Facing down a confident Rybakina turned out to be a bridge too far for Kostyuk, who engineered a groundbreaking week in Stuttgart to make her second final of the year. In the midst of the best season of her career, Kostyuk will rise to a new career-high ranking of No.21 on Monday.
The 21-year-old Ukrainian came into Sunday having tallied three straight Top 10 wins, defeating No.7 Zheng Qinwen, and reigning Slam champions No.3 Coco Gauff, and No.9 Marketa Vondrousova. Her win over Zheng in the Round of 16 was a remarkable one. Kostyuk saved five match points in stunning fashion to oust the Australian Open finalist.
Coming into the final with a 1-1 record against Rybakina, Kostyuk could find no inroads against the World No.4. Kostyuk struck just six unforced errors in the first set, but Rybakina’s baseline aggression extracted 16 forced errors.
Rybakina continued her momentum in the second set to close out the win after 1 hour and 9 minutes. She finished the match unbroken, saving all three break points she faced.
More to follow…