The Canadian Open has been and gone, with thrills and spills the central theme of the tournament.
Canada’s premier event saw two maiden ATP and WTA 1000 winners, with Ben Shelton winning his first ATP title in two years and 18-year-old Victoria Mboko stunning four Grand Slam champions to win her maiden WTA Tour title.
Shelton strengthened his position among the ATP top 10, leapfrogging Novak Djokovic into the number six position, while Mboko climbed from world number 85 to 24.
There is another player, a former Grand Slam champion, who strengthened her position in another race: the WTA Finals race.
Elena Rybakina closes in on WTA Finals spot
Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon Ladies Singles champion, has clawed her way into the race for a WTA Finals spot.
The top seven players who have achieved the most WTA points from the calendar year qualify for the tournament, with the eighth spot given to the highest ranking reigning Grand Slam champion.
Before the Canadian Open, Rybakina sat in the ninth spot on the leaderboard, having won 2731 points.
Her run to the semi-finals in Canada saw her pick up 390 WTA points, helping her overtake Jasmine Paolini, who lost to Aoi Ito in her opening match.
However, Rybakina missed an opportunity to cement herself in the top seven places.
In her semi-final match against Victoria Mboko, Rybakina served for the match twice, while also having one match point, before losing 6-1 6-7 6-7 to the Canadian.
If she had defeated Mboko, Rybakina would have earned at least 650 points for being a finalist. These extra 260 points would have seen the Kazakhstani star overtake Jessica Pegula in the WTA Finals race and into the number seven spot.
Rybakina’s dominant record against Elise Mertens
Rybakina, seeded ninth, faces 19th seed Elise Mertens in her third-round match at the Cincinnati Open.
The pair have met on six previous occasions, with Rybakina leading their head-to-head record by five matches to one.
They first met at the 2020 Shenzhen Open in China, with Rybakina winning in straight sets. Mertens achieved revenge at the 2021 Madrid Open, but Rybakina has responded by winning every match thereafter.
Their last match was at the 2024 French Open, with Rybakina winning their fourth-round contest 6-4 6-2.
The winner of Rybakina and Mertens will face either Madison Keys or Aoi Ito in the Cincinnati Open fourth round.
