Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina led Kazakhstan to a key opening-day win over Spain at the United Cup in Perth Friday.
After pulling her country back onto level terms with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the second match of the day, Rybankina 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
Earlier, in her first match alongside her new coach, 2001 Wimbledon champion and former ATP World No.2 Goran Ivanisevic, 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina had things mostly her own way in her first career meeting with 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.”
On her new partnership with 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, 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.
Captain Aleksandr Nedovyesov, who at No. 59 has a far superior doubles ranking than Shevchenko but did not select himself to play the mixed, said, “We're pleased with the W today. Obviously it was a tough one.
“The key was probably to stay together until the end. It was a lot of chances, a lot of opportunities, to be honest… In the moments that you could not capitalize on the chances, you need to find a way to stay positive.
”That's why 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.”
Carreno Busta had earlier given Spain an initial lead with a 6-2, 6-1 win over World No. 78 Alexander Shevchenko in Group C play on Day 1 of the mixed teams' event.
“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.”
The 33-year-old won 78 per cent (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.
Kazakhstan will qualify for the quarter-finals if it defeats Greece in its second group match Monday.
