Elena Rybakina ‘half a step ahead’ of rivals Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka
Defending champion Elena Rybakina looks unstoppable at Wimbledon and has an edge over her fellow Big Three challengers Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka.
Rybakina started the defence of her title by dropping the first set against Shelby Rogers, but went on to win in three sets and the Kazakh star has been untroubled after that early hiccup.
World No 1 Swiatek, meanwhile, looked on course for a fourth-round exit as she faced two match points against Belinda Bencic before digging herself out of a hole to reach the last eight while Sabalenka dropped a second in the second round against Varvara Gracheva, but has been solid since that clash.
The competition, though, gets tougher from here on in as top seed Swiatek takes on Elina Svitolina in the quarter-final on Tuesday while on Wednesday it is the turn of Sabalenka as she faces Madison Keys while Rybakina has a rematch against Ons Jabeur, whom she beat in last year’s final at SW19.
Former world No 1 Mats Wilander feels that Rybakina is currently clear of her two closest challengers when it comes to the favourite tag for Wimbledon.
“I think they’ve had their dips,” he said during a Eurosport broadcast.
“Aryna Sabalenka had a little bit of a problem against [Varvara] Gracheva [in the second round] when she got involved in a three-set match, but then she played great in the next round.
“Iga Swiatek was down match points to Belinda Bencic. She did great to come back, she’s showing that she’s getting more used to the grass and she’s talking about how she’s enjoying it more.
“And then you have Elena Rybakina. When she starts getting going we realise ‘oh okay, here we go again’.
“She’s perfect for the grass with the big serve and then the confidence from last year. So out of the three, you most probably have to put Rybakina half a step ahead in terms of being the favourite.”
Rybakina – who played only five games in the fourth round on Monday before Beatriz Haddad Maia retired through injury – has had an outstanding 2023 so far as she finished runner-up to Sabalenka at the Australian Open before beating the Belarusian in the Indian Wells Open final.
She then lost against Petra Kvitova in the Miami Open final and a few months later she won the Italian Open.
“I feel different from the beginning of the year, just because I had really good results. Yeah, maybe the last year I didn’t finish as I wished I could finish,” she said.
“This year, all the results, I think it’s not only about Wimbledon, it’s just overall how I started the year. Of course, it is different from the last year.”
