Elena Rybakina has just overtaken Serena Williams as the player with the highest winning percentage in matches against the WTA world No. 1.
Today, the 26-year-old Kazakh became an Australian Open champion after beating No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-4 4-6 6-4.
After losing the last two games of the second set, Rybakina also found herself trailing 0-3 in the decider. However, the world No. 5 didn't panic a bit and remarkably bounced back by going on a five-game winning run before serving out for the match in the 10th game.
Rybakina, who also defeated Sabalenka in the WTA Finals final two months ago, now has a 9-6 record (60 percent winning record) in matches when facing the world No. 1.
Previously, the record was held by American tennis icon Williams, who had a 58.6 win/loss percentage in such matches.
60% – Elena Rybakina is now the player with the highest winning percentage against the World No. 1 since the WTA Rankings were firstly published in 1975 (60.0%, 9-6) – min. 10 meetings. Unreal.#AusOpen | @AustralianOpen @WTA pic.twitter.com/4DkRordzjQ
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 31, 2026
Rybakina has won her last 10 matches against the top-10 opposition
Rybakina has been on an absolute tear since late 2025, winning the WTA 500 tournament in Ningbo, landing her maiden WTA Finals title, and now becoming an Australian Open champion. Across those three tournaments, the Kazakh faced a top-10 player 10 times and went a perfect 10-0.
Following her latest massive accomplishment, the 26-year-old gave credit to her team.
“I’d like to say thank you to my team. Without you it wouldn’t be possible. We had a lot of things going on. I’m really glad we achieved this result. Thank you to all of you. Hopefully we can keep going strong this year," Rybakina said.
Rybakina now has two Grand Slam titles in her collection, having also won Wimbledon in 2022.
