Elena Rybakina won the WTA tournament in Rome in a truncated final after Anhelina Kalinina retired at the start of the second set due to a left leg injury.
This is not how Elena Rybakina wanted to win her second WTA 1000 tournament. Postponed to 11:00 p.m. this Saturday due to bad weather which greatly delayed the program of the day, the final of the Rome tournament did not go further than the end of the first set due to the abandonment of Anhelina Kalinina. A meeting that the Ukrainian, after a very hung first game and the third break point, started with a bang by taking the service of her opponent.
However, the Kazakh was able to make sense of things and put her game back in place. After missing two opportunities to pick up the score in the fourth game, she achieved her goal on her opponent’s next pass on serve. A break that allowed him to pick up three games everywhere. Keeping the pressure on Anhelina Kalinina, Elena Rybakina was unsuccessful when she got no less than four opportunities to take control on the scoreboard. In pride, the Ukrainian dismissed one by one these break points then held her face-off.
Not the ending we wanted to see ❤️🩹
Kalinina has been forced to withdraw due to injury. Rybakina wins 6-4, 1-0 ret.#IBI23 pic.twitter.com/qxxDk54Yfq
— wta (@WTA) May 20, 2023
Kalinina could not continue
However, this resistance proved futile. As her opponent served to stay in the first set, the Kazakh needed only two set points to take the lead in this final. The world number 6 then started the second round by taking her face-off without too much difficulty against an opponent who appeared diminished and this was confirmed very quickly. After just one point on her face-off, Anhelina Kalinina interrupted the match to immediately request the arrival of the tournament medical service due to difficulties in leaning on her left leg.
After a few minutes of exchange, it is in tears that the Ukrainian resolved to give up in front of a Roman public sparse and unhappy with the scenario. With this victory (6-4, 1-0 in 1h04 ‘), Elena Rybakina wins the Rome tournament, her second career WTA 1000 after Indian Wells earlier this season and ensures to dislodge Caroline Garcia from fourth place in the world from this Monday. For Anhelina Kalinina, doubts are piling up as Roland-Garros approaches.
