MELBOURNE, Jan 31 (Reuters) – Factbox on Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, who beat Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka 6-4 4-6 6-4 in the Australian Open final to win her second Grand Slam title on Saturday:
Age: 26
Nation: Kazakhstan
WTA ranking: 5
Seeding: 5
Grand Slam titles: 2 (Wimbledon 2022, Australian Open 2026)
EARLY LIFE
Began playing tennis aged six.
Born in Moscow but switched allegiance to Kazakhstan in 2018.
CAREER TO DATE
Began her professional career on the ITF Circuit in 2014.
Won two doubles titles on the ITF Circuit in 2017, as well as one singles and one doubles title in 2018.
Defeated Patricia Maria Tig to claim her maiden WTA title at Bucharest in 2019. Broke into the top 50.
Reached the finals at four of her first five events in 2020 before the WTA Tour shut down for more than five months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Won second WTA title at Hobart. Became the first player from Kazakhstan to break into the WTA’s top 20.
Reached the quarter-finals at French Open in 2021 and finished the year ranked 14th.
Defeated Ons Jabeur in her first Wimbledon final to claim maiden Grand Slam title.
Reached her second Grand Slam final at the 2023 Australian Open where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in three sets, and made her debut in top-10 rankings after the tournament.
Won three titles from five finals in 2024, at Brisbane, Abu Dhabi and Stuttgart and finished as a runner-up at Doha and Miami.
Won three titles in 2025 adding Strasbourg and Ningbo crowns to her Riyadh triumph, and also claimed her first WTA finals title, toppling world number one Sabalenka in the final.
Defeated Sabalenka once again at the 2026 Australian Open final to win her second Grand Slam title.
(Compiled by Karan Prashant Saxena in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon)
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