Elena Rybakina has quietly progressed through the Australian Open without much fuss as she’s reached the quarter-finals.
The 26-year-old dominated Elise Mertens to reach the last eight of the Australian Open, and she is still yet to drop a set in Melbourne.
Rybakina has been in supreme form over the last few months, which included a WTA Finals victory and now her first Grand Slam quarter-final since 2024.
The star has looked unbeatable in Melbourne and she’s now been told she has the best serve in WTA history.
Rick Macci says Elena Rybakina’s serve is the ‘best’ in tennis history
Rybakina’s serve has always been one of her strongest weapons, and she used it to devastating effect against Mertens.
She hit 10 aces as she dropped just four games against the Belgian to continue her perfect record in Melbourne.
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Speaking on social media, Serena Williams’ former coach Rick Macci was full of praise for Elena Rybakina’s serve.
“Rybakina has the best biomechanically efficient serve I have EVER seen on the WTA TOUR,” he wrote on X.
“The leg drive initiates the racquet entry at the exact correct millisecond as it is counter intuitive and the racquet stays on the hitting side by the right scapula her angle of descent of the ball finds angles we just have not seen and her opponents do not see also. BANG.”
Rybakina faces an exceptionally tough test against Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
Elena Rybakina and Iga Swiatek’s close head-to-head record
Rybakina and Swiatek’s contest in the quarter-finals has all the makings of an epic, as the pair have produced one of the more captivating rivalries on the WTA Tour.
They have played each other 11 times since their first meeting in 2021, with Swiatek narrowly leading the head-to-head with six wins.
That includes two Grand Slam meetings, which have been split with Rybakina and Swiatek sharing one win apiece.
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Swiatek defeated Rybakina in the round of 16 at the 2025 Roland Garros, while Rybakina knocked Swiatek out at the same stage of the 2023 Australian Open.
Their latest meeting came at the WTA Finals, which saw Rybakina defeat the world number two en route to lifting the final.
The match could go either way and it has all the ingredients to be one of the best matches of the Grand Slam so far.
