‘Confident’ Elena Rybakina Earns Martina Navratilova’s Backing Over Defending Australian Open Champion

Who will have the last laugh at the Australian Open 2024? Will it be the world number one Iga Swiatek or the number two and reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka? Well, 18-time major singles title holder Martina Navratilova has a different pick. Focusing on her resilience, Navratilova recently put world number three, Elena Rybakina, ahead of the defending champion in the race to clinch the season’s first Grand Slam.

Even though Rybakina had her ups and downs before reaching the Grand Slam event, Navratilova believes that she has worked hard and ‘matched up’ the defending AO champion. 

Martina Navratilova believes Elena Rybakina has done her work to match up with Aryna Sabalenka

Kazakhstan’s number one got off to a flying start in 2024. Rybakina thrashed Sabalenka at the Brisbane International by 6-0,6-3 and then made a QF run in the Adelaide. Although she lost her QF match to Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova by 6-3,6-3. Rybakina will now look forward to not repeating her mistakes from last year’s AO final. And Martina Navratilova thinks she can dominate this time around. 

Speaking about the Sabalenka-Rybakina debate, Navratilova said, “I’ll put Rybakina slightly above Sabalenka. Given that she beat her so handily last, uh two weeks ago. And, you know then she defaulted after the second round last week. But she has done her work. She has matched up and she gotta be very confident.” 

Navratilova believes Rybakina is ‘super-motivated’ to even perform better than the current world number one, Iga Swiatek. As she doesn’t completely rule out the Polish superstar’s chances, it can be understood that according to Navratilova, the major clash of the season will be between the world no.1 and no.3.

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If everything goes right, they could face each other at the SF in Melbourne Park. But for Aryna Sabalenka, she needs to find a way to beat the Kazakhstani who leads the recent H2H 3-1 (although Sabalenka leads the overall H2H by 5-3).

What’s ahead for Sabalenka and Rybakina in their AO campaign?

The defending champion will be in action later today where she will face the 18-year-old German Ella Seidel at their first-round clash in 2024 AO. This will mark the first Grand Slam main draw for the German. And, she couldn’t have asked for a better tie, right? Can Seidel give a tough fight to Aryna Sabalenka at the iconic Rod Laver Arena?

Well, we’ve to wait a few more hours to get that answer. But for the number 3, Rybakina will take on the Czech international and former world number 1, Karolina Pliskova in her first match at 2024 AO. Although Rybakina leads the H2H with Pliskova by 3-0, the Czech would once again love to put her name higher up the table. Who are you rooting for in this clash?

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