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Tennis star Elena Rybakina has won the opening thriller of the 2025 United Cupand thwarted Jessica Bouzas Maneiro by 6-2, 6-3 at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, on December 27. Notably, in the thrilling encounter, Pablo Carreno Busta had given Spain an early lead in the tie set with a quick win over Alexander, but world number six Elena struck back at 1-1 with a 78-minute game to win the thrilling encounter on Friday.
Meanwhile, number nine Kazakhstan and 14th-seeded Spain are now heading into a decisive mixed doubles rubber to determine the first group stage winner in Group C at the 500 mixed-level team event. Meanwhile, Rybakina and Shevchenko are now set to face Carreno Busta and Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers. In her thrilling encounter alongside her new coach, 2001 Wimbledon winner Goran Ivanisevic, the world number one, Elena Rybakina, had things mostly her way in her first career meeting with Maneiro.
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The Moscow-born star revealed that this game was pretty tough for her. She further talked about the tactical and pragmatic skills she showcased in her game, which allowed her to mark her terrific comeback in this game.
It was a really tough one; first matches are always difficult. Elena Rybakina
Elena Rybakina after beating Bouzas Maneiro in first match of the season at United Cup
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) December 27, 2024
“First official match being coached by Goran Ivanisevic… tell me what he’s bringing to the party.”
Elena: “We did preparations. For a couple weeks. We’re getting to know each other better.… pic.twitter.com/J2xgoGPpvS
"It was a really tough one; first matches are always difficult. It’s not easy to get used to [it] that quick, but I’m really happy with the way I played today. We did preparation for a couple weeks, and now we're still getting to know each other better. There are 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 said in her on-court interview.
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