Elena Rybakina is two wins from Riyadh
Maybe the biggest, or most surprising, news is who isn’t playing this week: Mirra Andreeva, who is currently seventh in the Riyadh chase, hasn’t entered the WTA 500 in Tokyo. That opens the door for the woman in ninth place, Elena Rybakina, to leap past her and snag the final position.
On Sunday, Rybakina helped herself by winning the title in Ningbo. Now, to pass Andreeva, she must make the semifinal in Tokyo. As the highest seed, she gets a bye, which means she only needs to win two matches. She’ll start against either Leylah Fernandez or Maria Sakkari. Then she would face one of four opponents: Victoria Mboko, Bianca Andreescu, Katie Boulter, or Eva Lys. The way Rybakina looked in Ningbo, she’ll be favored against any of them. And I’m guessing no one will would want to face if she’s still at that level in Riyadh.
If Rybakina loses before the semis, Andreeva qualifies for Riyadh.
