Stuttgart Open glory propels Elena Rybakina into same stratosphere as Venus Williams and Iga Swiatek
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images Elena Rybakina picked up her second Stuttgart Open title, beating Karolina Muchova in the final to claim the 13th WTA trophy of her career. The Kazakh star, currently ranked second in the world, took down Muchova 7-5, 6-1 in a straight-set win. This is Rybakina’s second title of the year, adding to her Australian Open win back in January, which was also the second Grand Slam of her career.
Following this latest triumph at Stuttgart, the 26-year-old has now joined three legends of women’s tennis by reaching an exclusive milestone. Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images Rybakina reaches five titles on multiple surfaces Elena Rybakina has become the fourth active player on the WTA Tour to win five or more titles across different surfaces. The 26-year-old joins an exclusive list that includes Venus Williams, Iga Swiatek, and Elina Svitolina.
Of her 13 titles, seven have come on hard courts, where she has won a Grand Slam at the Australian Open and also claimed victories at Indian Wells and the WTA Finals. On clay, Rybakina now holds five titles, including a WTA 1000 win at the Italian Open in 2023. Her lone grass-court title came at Wimbledon that same year, marking her first Grand Slam victory.
Elena Rybakina looks to narrow the gap on Aryna Sabalenka in the WTA rankings Rybakina is currently sitting just under 3,000 points behind world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the WTA rankings. She’ll have an opportunity to cut into that lead during the clay season, given her limited success on the surface last year. In 2025, Rybakina went out in the third round at both the Madrid Open and Italian Open, and then fell in the fourth round at Roland Garros.
Sabalenka, meanwhile, reached the final of all three events and has a lot of points to defend this time around. Read more: From centre court to sidelines: Emma Raducanu scratched from Madrid Open Back at the top: Elena Rybakina shares her thrilling reaction to Stuttgart Open win Iga Swiatek discusses new coaching setup after loss to Mirra Andreeva in Stuttgart