The 2023 Elena Rybakina tennis season officially began on 1 January 2023, with the start of the Adelaide International 1 in Adelaide.
Yearly Summary
Rybakina started the season at the Adelaide International 1, defeating Danielle Collins in three sets[2] before losing to Marta Kostyuk in the second round.[3] She followed it by another loss in Adelaide International 2 to Petra Kvitová in straight sets. However, she reached the doubles final with partner Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. At the Australian Open, Rybakina defeated 2022 finalist Danielle Collins again in the third round,[4] world No. 1 Iga Świątek in the fourth round[5] to become the first Kazakhstani woman to reach the quarterfinals at this Major.[6] Next she defeated former French Open champion Jeļena Ostapenko to reach her first Australian Open semifinal.[7] In the semifinals, she defeated former world No. 1 and two-time Australian Open champion, Victoria Azarenka, in straight sets, reaching the second Grand Slam final of her career.[8] However, despite winning the first set, Rybakina ultimately lost in the championship match to Aryna Sabalenka in a high quality encounter.[9] She reached the top 10 on 30 January 2023 making her the first player representing Kazakhstan, male or female, ever to reach the Top 10 on either the ATP or WTA rankings.[10][11]
In Abu Dhabi she reached the quarterfinals defeating Karolina Plíšková,[12] where she lost to Beatriz Haddad Maia.[13]
In Dubai, she reached the third round by beating Bianca Andreescu[14] and Marie Bouzková in straight sets. She withdrew from her third round match against fifth seed Coco Gauff due to a lower-back injury.
At Indian Wells, as the tenth seed, she made her second consecutive Indian Wells quarterfinal after defeating Sofia Kenin,[15] 21st seed Paula Badosa[16] and Varvara Gracheva. Then she defeated Karolína Muchová to reach her first WTA 1000 semifinal.[17] In the semifinals, she moved past the defending champion Świątek, in straight sets, for the second time in 2023 to reach her first WTA 1000 final.[18] In the final, she edged second seed Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets, reversing the result of their matchup in the Australian Open final for her first WTA 1000 title.[19][20] This result pushed her ranking to a new career-high of world No. 7 in the WTA singles rankings.[21]
Following the final in Miami where she lost to 15th seed Petra Kvitová who prevented her from completing the Sunshine Double,[22] and an early second round exit at the Stuttgart Open and the Madrid Open to Beatriz Haddad Maia and Anna Kalinskaya, respectively, she reached a new career-high of world No. 6 on 8 May 2023. She reached the quarterfinals at the Italian Open and moved to a new career high ranking of world No. 5 with a win over Jasmine Paolini, Anna Kalinskaya by retirement and Markéta Vondroušová. Next she defeated world No. 1, Iga Świątek (who retired during the deciding set due to injury) for the third time to reach her first Rome semifinal.[23] Rybakina reached her third WTA 1000 final of the season defeating Jeļena Ostapenko. She became the third player in the Open Era to reach the final in the same season at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami Open plus Rome, after Monica Seles in 1991 and Maria Sharapova in 2012.[24] She won her first WTA 1000 clay title, after Anhelina Kalinina retired in the second set, and moved to a career-high ranking of world No. 4, on 22 May 2023.[25][26] At the 2023 French Open despite her walkover due to respiratory illness in the third round,[27] she reached No. 3 in the world rankings on 12 June 2023.[28] On 26 June 2023, Rybakina announced her withdrawal from the Eastbourne International event with a viral illness.[29]
At Wimbledon as defending champion, Rybakina reached the quarterfinals where she lost to Ons Jabeur in three sets.[30]
Following her quarterfinal loss at Wimbledon, she reached the semifinals at the Canadian Open for the first time in her career. She overcame Jennifer Brady and Sloane Stephens before defeating Daria Kasatkina in a match that lasted 3 hours and 27 minutes, the longest match of Rybakina's career.[31] The match finished at 2:55am local time. In the semifinals Rybakina lost to Liudmila Samsonova in three sets reporting that she felt 'destroyed' physically in the post match press conference because of the scheduling issues she faced during the tournament.[32]
She reached the third round of the US Open as the fourth seed, losing to Sorana Cîrstea in three sets.[33]
Rybakina has a 47–15 (75.8%) WTA match win–loss record in the 2023 season. Her record against players who were part of the WTA rankings top ten at the time of their meetings is 7–4 (63.6%). Bold indicates player was ranked top 10 at the time of at least one meeting. The following list is ordered by number of wins: