Elena Rybakina has reinforced her status as a key women’s singles title contender with a 6-4 6-3 first-round triumph over Kaja Juvan at Margaret Court Arena.
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“I’m happy with the serve, it really worked today,” the No.5 seed said. Rybakina won 83 per cent of first-serve points during the match, eclipsing her WTA Tour-leading 74.9 per cent record at the four majors in 2025.
The AO 2023 finalist hasn’t lost at the first hurdle at a Grand Slam since the 2022 US Open and is unbeaten in opening round matches at Melbourne Park where her unblemished streak now stands at 7-0.
An assured Rybakina, the owner of one of the most potent serves in women’s tennis, raced through two of her first three service games in less than 90 seconds. But on return, she was unable to trouble Juvan, the world No.100, until the tenth game of the set.
Serving at 4-5, the Slovenian made an untimely double fault to hand Rybakina a pair of break points, the first of the match. Seizing the opportunity, the 26-year-old Kazakh struck a cross-court backhand winner to secure the opening set.
Eager to avoid joining Aryna Sabalenka and Karolina Pliskova as top-five players who have suffered a defeat at the hands of Juvan, Rybakina broke the 25-year-old to take a 3-1 lead in the second.
Though Juvan earned the first break point of the match on Rybakina’s serve at 5-3, the former world No.3 survived the challenge and moments later served her fifth ace of the day down the ‘T’ to seal victory.
“The return was not going well, but then it was a matter of time, I was each game [getting] closer,” Rybakina said. “Some mistakes here and there, but it’s [the] first match, hopefully I’m just going to play better and better.”
At AO 2025, Rybakina fell to eventual champion Madison Keys in the fourth round, a result that preceded a solid season in which she captured three titles including the coveted WTA Finals crown in Riyadh.
If she can live up to her seeding, the Kazakh star is projected to reach next week’s quarterfinals. Rybakina must first earn a third career win over second-round opponent Varvara Gracheva and will be buoyed by confidence from having never lost more than three games in a set against the Frenchwoman.
Until then, the 2022 Wimbledon champion plans to soak in a little bit of Melbourne life.
“I really enjoy time in Australia,” she said. “Here it’s [a] very nice city, some [good] breakfast places and also I have some friends here, so if I have more time of course [there’s] a lot to do here in Melbourne, but I’m trying to focus more on the tournament and recovery.”
“I feel like the tournament really improves each year and we are very lucky here, they [are] treating us really well.”