Elena Rybakina Upsets Sabalenka to Secure Historic £4m Payout
Rybakina secured her forty-fifth hard court victory of 2025
Elena Rybakina claimed the largest prize in women's tennis all time by overcoming world number one Aryna Sabalenka in two sets at the championship.
The 26-year-old delivered a stunning performance to overcome four-times Grand Slam champion her opponent in two sets in the host country.
Because both players advanced through the tournament without a loss, the reward on offer was a record-breaking £3.98m – the biggest payout offering in women's tennis history.
This amount tops the £3.74 million Sabalenka received for winning September's New York major, which was the highest-paying Grand Slam in the current year.
"It's been an fantastic tournament," commented the Kazakh player.
"Truly didn't expect this outcome so to win the title was just incredible."
"Let me offer congratulations to Aryna for holding the top spot for a second consecutive year in a row, it's an outstanding achievement."
The champion, who was the world number six, hit sixteen winners during a dominant first-set performance.
The 2022 Wimbledon winner saved two chances before taking every point in the sixth game of the set to take the break and served out to win the opening set.
With the second set on serve, Sabalenka saved another two opportunities at four-all to swing the momentum in her favour.
But, having worked so hard to disrupt Rybakina's rhythm, Sabalenka failed to capitalize by squandering two set points in the following game to level the second set at five-all.
Sabalenka's failure to level the match impacted her tie-break play, with Rybakina taking every point to take home the championship.
The victory, Rybakina's sixth over her rival, means she will move up one place in the rankings to fifth in the world rankings.
A distraught the runner-up was seen crying as she met with her coaching team soon after the match.
"It was not the best performance from me in this match but Elena you were definitely the superior player," the Belarusian addressed the crowd.
"You really smashed me on court. I'm pleased to see you at your peak. Celebrate this beautiful title."
