Rybakina wins twice as Kazakhstan triumphs in United Cup opening tie

Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina led Kazakhstan to a key opening-day win over Spain at the United Cup in Perth on Friday.

After pulling her country back on to level terms with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the second match of the day, Rybakina teamed with fellow No.1 singles player Alexander Shevchenko to clinch the deciding mixed doubles over Pablo Carreno Busta and Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers 7-6(4), 6-7(2), [10-7].

The narrow mixed doubles win gave Kazakhstan the 2-1 victory over Spain in the first group-stage tie of the event.

"We're pleased with the W today," Kazakhstan's captain Aleksandr Nedovyesov said. "Obviously it was a tough one.

"The team, the bench was important for the players to get behind them, to get as much positive vibes to them so they can stay calm, they can stay focused. I guess the teamwork was the key today."

Kazakhstan will qualify for the quarterfinals from Group C if it defeats Greece in its second group match on Monday.

Carreno Busta started the tie by moving past Shevchenko 6-2, 6-1, earning a comfortable victory against the No.78 player in the PIF ATP Rankings and giving Spain the 1-0 lead.

The 33-year-old won 78 percent (21/27) of his first-serve points and struck three aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats, in 61 minutes. With the win, the former World No.10 improved to 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

“I didn’t expect this level,” Carreno Busta said in his on-court interview. “It is very important in the beginning to be focused. In the beginning, I was very nervous but that’s normal. After that, I tried to be solid and tried to be a little more aggressive than [I was] in the beginning.”

Kazakhstan struck back for 1-1 when World No.6 Rybakina posted a 78-minute victory over 54th-ranked Bouzas Maneiro.

"It was a really tough one, first matches are always difficult,” Rybakina said in her on-court interview. “It’s not easy to get used to [it] that quick, but I’m really happy with the way I played today.”

In her first match alongside her new coach, 2001 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina had things mostly her own way in her first career meeting with Bouzas Maneiro.

On her new partnership with former ATP World No.2 Ivanisevic, Rybakina said “we did preparation for a couple weeks, and now [we’re] still getting to know each other better. There is a lot of things I can improve, I think. We’re working a little bit on everything. … Slowly, I think, we’ll see the result of the work.”

Rybakina rolled to a quick 4-0 lead on Friday, but Bouzas Maneiro found her footing in the rallies and had more forehand winners than Rybakina in the first set (5 to 4).

Bouzas Maneiro held four break points at 4-2 to completely pull back on serve, but Rybakina powered her way out of that danger, wrested back the momentum, and eventually broke at love for the one-set lead.

The Kazakh took the lead in the second set by firing multiple backhand winners in a love break for 4-2. Bouzas Maneiro made one last push, holding three break points at 5-3, but the Rybakina power game won out as she regrouped and closed out the win with a rally crosscourt backhand.

Consistently within the tour’s top servers every year this decade, Rybakina was just as impressive on return on Friday, claiming 71 percent of Bouzas Maneiro’s second-service points and converting four of her five break chances.

Rybakina continues to exhibit some of her career-best play in Australia, where she has posted an 8-2 record over the last 12 months. Two of her eight career titles have come Down Under (2020 Hobart and 2024 Brisbane), and she reached her second Grand Slam final at the 2023 Australian Open, narrowly losing to Aryna Sabalenka.