Rybakina secures tour-leading 29th victory with win over Eala in Rome

World No. 2 Elena Rybakina is back into the Rome Round of 16. 

Rome: Scores | Draws | Order of play

After an early exit at last year's Internazionali BNL d'Italia, the 2023 champion advanced to the last 16 in Rome for the fourth time in five appearances with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Alexandra Eala. Rybakina awaits the winner of Karolina Pliskova and Laura Siegemund in the next round, and boasts a combined 11-1 record against the two.

In their first meeting on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, Rybakina's serve and powerful forehand proved to be the difference makers against a valiant Eala. Throughout the match, it seemed Eala had to work slightly harder to earn her points, and ultimately despite a strong effort, Rybakina capitalized.

How did Rybakina get the win?

Forcing Eala to the corners: Physically, Rybakina is the more powerful player in terms of the pace of her shots, and Rybakina used that to her advantage, particular on the forehand. In the first set, 13 of Rybakina's 17 winners were on the forehand, including a rifling winner down the line.

One of the many examples of this was Rybakina's break to begin the second set. The Kazakh essentially had Eala hitting from the doubles alley, and because Eala couldn't get enough pace on the cross-corut hit, it set Rybakina up with an easy winner in an abundance of open court space. Plus, it was only fitting that Rybakina's match point was a forehand winner in open space to the corner, securing her fourth break of the match.

Capitalizing on second serve, complemented with untimely unforced errors: Eala had a solid outing overall, and the true difference was getting broken early in the first set, and running out of steam toward the end of the match. The conditions didn't favor one or the other too noticeably, but Eala managed to handle the wind and loftier balls effectively.

Though not counted as an unforced error, Rybakina took advantage of Eala's second serve speed after she would fault on the first. Following an Eala stretch where she won 8-of-9 points to take a 2-1 second set lead, Rybakina won two consecutive games to go up a break once more by powering a forehand on Eala's second serve. She won 45% of Eala's second serve points.

Down 4-3 in the second set, Eala led 30-15 as Rybakina served. She had a prime opportunity on the run at the net to create two break point opportunities. Instead, the ball sailed long, and based on Eala's reaction, she knew that was one she wanted back. Rybakina then held to guarantee herself at least one chance to serve for the match, though she did not need it by breaking Eala in the end. 

What the win means?

• Rybakina is now the only player to reach the Round of 16 at all six of the WTA 1000 events this season. 
• With 28 winners Sunday to reach a season total of 925, Rybakina is the first player to eclipse 900 total winners this season.
• Rybakina has 29 main-draw wins this season, the most of any player, and one more ahead of Mirra Andreeva.