Elena Rybakina is discovering that her big serve and heavy groundstrokes can do damage on clay courts, too. The Wimbledon champion was dominating 21-9 with winners when Ukrainian opponent Anhelina Kalinina retired due to a left thigh injury early in the second set of the rain-delayed Italian Open final on Saturday.
It’s been quite a year for Rybakina, who reached the final of the Australian Open, won an elite title in Indian Wells, and was the runner-up in Miami. On Monday, Rybakina will move up to a career-high No. 4 in the rankings and will be a contender at the French Open, which starts next weekend. Rybakina was leading 6-4, 1-0, and 15-0 when Kalinina called for a trainer and grasped her left leg as she teared up. Rybakina earned her biggest title on clay. Her only other trophy on the surface came in Bucharest in 2019. The 47th-ranked Kalinina was playing in the biggest final of her career and has been dedicating her performances to her war-torn country. Kalinina spent more than four hours longer on court than Rybakina entering the final, having won the longest match on the women’s circuit this season—3 hours, 41 minutes against Beatriz Haddad Maia in the quarterfinals. Top-ranked Iga Swiatek also retired in the third set against Rybakina in the quarterfinals due to a right thigh injury. Holger Rune will face Daniil Medvedev in the men’s final on Sunday. The 20-year-old Rune rallied past Casper Ruud 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-2, and Medvedev performed a little celebratory dance after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5, 7-5 in a semifinal that was suspended twice in the first set for a total of nearly four and a half hours due to rain.
