There was over $15 million up for grabs at the season-ending WTA Finals in 2025 and in the end it was Moscow-born Elena Rybakina, who has competed under the Kazakh flag since 2018, that took the glory in the singles competition. The 26-year-old earned a rather handsome £3.98m (just over $5.2m) for her win, having gone through the whole tournament undefeated. That made it the biggest single payday in the entire history of women’s tennis.
The win also moved her up to number five in the world rankings, from number six, and she will have her sights set on adding to her sole Grand Slam, the 2022 Wimbledon title, next year. The huge win moved her up to 20th in terms of all-time earnings but, useful as a cool £4m would be to almost anyone, we are sure that winning more titles will be her main aim in 2026.
A Doddle in the Desert
| Round | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Group Match 1 | Amanda Anisimova | Won 2-0 (6-3, 6-1) |
| Group Match 2 | Iga Swiatek | Won 2-1 (3-6, 6-1, 6-0) |
| Group Match 3 | Ekaterina Alexandrova | Won 2-0 (6-4, 6-4) |
| Semi-Final | Jessica Pegula | Won 2-1 (4-6, 6-4, 6-3) |
| Final | Aryna Sabalenka | Won 2-0 (6-3, 7-6) |
Is the Saudi capital Riyadh “the desert”? Perhaps not. Anyway, Rybakina made it look all too easy at the 2025 WTA Finals, which were hosted in Saudi Arabia for the second consecutive season. She breezed through the Serena Williams Group, only conceding a set against the world number two, Iga Swiatek.
She beat the Pole easily in the end, despite losing the first set 6-3. She reeled off the next two for the loss of just one game. Amanda Anisimova was defeated 6-3, 6-1, while she was up against the second-alternate stand-in, Ekaterina Alexandrova, for her final game. The Russian stood in after Madison Keys withdrew, and Mirra Andreeva declined to be her replacement. She was swept aside 6-4, 6-4, as Rybakina proved too good.
In the semis, she was up against US star Jessica Pegula and as she had against Swiatek, she lost the first set. However, she came back from that 6-4 disappointment to win the next two 6-4, 6-3. That set up a final against the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.
The world number one had been the favourite for glory, such is relative dominance in the game right now. With her main rival Swiatek vanquished, she must have felt she was in with a great chance of winning this event for the first time.
In the round-robin phase, in the Steffi Graf Group, she saw off Coco Gauff in straight sets, needing a tiebreaker to win the first. She also beat Pegula and Italian ace Jasmine Paolini. Like Rybakina, she won six sets, losing just one. Also, like the women she would eventually play in the final, she beat an American in three sets in the semis. She got the better of Anisimova 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to make it through to the final.
It was her second appearance in the WTA Finals decider. That history, plus the greater experience she boasts in big games compared to Rybakina, not to mention the fact that she is, by most assessments, simply the superior player, meant she began the final as the clear favourite.
However, one of the many things we love about sport is its unpredictability and Rybakina managed to upset the odds. In the end, she made light work of things in the final. She was superb against the four-time Grand Slam champion, winning 6-3, 7-6 (7-0), the manner of her tiebreaker victory a fitting way for her to claim the crown and huge payday.
Sabalenka had her chances at various times in the match but could never quite produce her best tennis when it really mattered. She had two set points in the second but it went to 5-5 and from that point on, her body language wasn’t great, and she looked sure to succumb.
The world number one was gracious in defeat, despite being in tears immediately after the game. She applauded her opponent’s play, noting that while “It was not the best performance from me today … you were definitely the better player.” She told Rybakina, “You literally smashed me out of the court. I’m happy to see you play your best tennis. Enjoy this beautiful trophy.”
Once and Out Run Continues
Much as it is great to see sustained rivalry at the top of tennis, as we do in the men’s game with Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, there is also something captivating and beautiful about the more open nature of things in women’s tennis. Rybakina’s win in this event meant that for the 10th tournament in a row, we saw a new WTA Finals champion anointed.
| Year | Winner | Runner-Up |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Elena Rybakina | Aryna Sabalenka |
| 2024 | Coco Gauff | Zheng Qinwen |
| 2023 | Iga Świątek | Jessica Pegula |
| 2022 | Caroline Garcia | Aryna Sabalenka |
| 2021 | Garbiñe Muguruza | Anett Kontaveit |
| 2020 | No Tournament | |
| 2019 | Ashleigh Barty | Elina Svitolina |
| 2018 | Elina Svitolina | Sloane Stephens |
| 2017 | Caroline Wozniacki | Venus Williams |
| 2016 | Dominika Cibulková | Angelique Kerber |
| 2015 | Agnieszka Radwańska | Petra Kvitová |
| 2014 | Serena Williams | Simona Halep |
Amazingly, we have not seen a repeat winner since Serena Williams – who now has a group named after her in the event – claimed her fifth (and third in a row) in this tournament. In 2015, Agnieszka Radwańska won and since then nine other different women have won this huge tournament for the first (and thus far only) time. Perhaps just as incredibly, in those 10 finals, we have had nine different losers too, with only Sabalenka, who lost to Caroline Garcia in 2022, losing more than once.