Elena Rybakina ‘to make 10 Grand Slam finals’ claims former No.1

Elena Rybakina is into her second Grand Slam final, after winning Wimbledon last year, and former No.1 Mats Wilander believes it is the second of many more to come.

Wilander is a tennis expert for the Australian Open, which is live and exclusive on discovery+ and Eurosport, and won seven singles Grand Slam’s, including three Australian Open titles.

Rybakina reached the final by beating two-time champion in Melbourne Victoria Azarenka, 7-6(3) 6-3, and has only dropped one set in the tournament so far.

A brilliant performance ?

Elena Rybakina is heading to the #AO2023 women's singles final!@wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis • #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/w7vEytvVdX

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 26, 2023

The Kazakhstani’s serve has helped her to the final of the first major of the year, with a tournament leading 44 aces. Wilander believes Rybakina’s powerful game and temperament will help steer her to more major success in the future.

“It’s huge now, but in five years it’s not huge, because she’s going to make 10 Grand Slam finals with that kind of game and personality,” said Wilander.

“She’s so calm and mellow throughout, and she’s just starting out. The tournament isn’t over, it’s the semi-finals, and the goal is to win the tournament and win many more of these.”

The 23-year-old beat Ons Jabeur to lift her first Grand Slam title at SW19, but will face a completely different challenge on Saturday when she plays fellow powerhouse Aryna Sabalenka.

The Wimbledon champion has never beaten Sabalenka in a professional capacity, losing all three previous meetings in deciding sets, but did pick up a recent victory over the Belarusian at an exhibition in Dubai.

However, Rybakina does have the advantage of having played in a major final before, which she admitted, “Everything was new at Wimbledon. Now I more or less understand what to expect.”

Whether Rybakina will be lifting her second Grand Slam title on Rod Laver Arena is yet to be known, but what is guaranteed is that she will make her long awaited debut into the top 10 after being denied this following ranking points being taken away from Wimbledon.

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