Rybakina seals WTA Finals spot in reaching Tokyo semis

FE Team | Published: October 24, 2025 22:53:18

Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina hits a return to Canada's Victoria Mboko during their women's singles match at the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament in Tokyo on Friday-AFP

TOKYO, Oct 24 (AFP): Elena Rybakina clinched the eighth and last spot at next month's WTA Finals when she beat Victoria Mboko 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) on Friday to reach the Pan Pacific semi-finals in Tokyo.
The 2022 Wimbledon champion joins the elite field in Saudi Arabia after a successful run of form that also saw her win the Ningbo Open in China last week.
"It's great to qualify and play some more matches, especially against top players," said Kazakhstan's Rybakina, who will appear at the Finals for a third straight year.
"Last week I was focusing one match at a time and I knew that to qualify it's going to take a long road," said the world number seven.
"In the end everything worked out pretty well."
Rybakina will play sixth seed Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic in the semi-finals on Saturday.
On the other side of the draw, Switzerland's Belinda Bencic will face American Sofia Kenin.