ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina secured the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 500 title in Stuttgart, defeating Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the final with a dominant score of 6:2, 6:2 at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on April 21.
Photo credit: Jimmie48/WTA
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev congratulated Rybakina on her victory.
“I would like to extend my congratulations to Elena Rybakina on her convincing victory at the tennis tournament in Stuttgart. The first racket of Kazakhstan has won three titles this season. This is a great success. I wish our Elena new sporting achievements,” the President wrote on his Instagram page.
The Kazakhstan Tennis Federation reported that in addition to the $123,480 in prize money for winning her third WTA 500 of the season, the World No.4 also won a Porsche car.
At the Stuttgart press conference, Rybakina revealed her plans to return to Germany this year.
“I am going to play Berlin and maybe Bad Homburg as grass is my favorite surface,” she said.
Rybakina won her first WTA tour trophy at the Bucharest Open in 2019. In 2020, she won the WTA 250 Hobart International. In 2022, Rybakina became the Wimbledon champion. Last year, the Kazakh tennis star won two WTA 1000 trophies in Indian Wells and Rome.
In January, Rybakina won the WTA 500 tournament in Brisbane and a month later in Abu Dhabi.
