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Elena Rybakina Reflects on Defeat and Crowd Challenge in Canadian Open Semi-Final

Elena Rybakina discusses her tight semi-final loss and crowd challenges at the 2025 Canadian Open.

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Elena Rybakina faced a tough loss in a gripping semi-final match at the 2025 Canadian Open, falling 6-1, 5-7, 6-7(4) to 18-year-old Canadian wildcard Victoria Mboko after nearly three hours of play in Montreal. The match was tightly contested, especially in the final set where Rybakina twice served for the match at 5-4 and 6-5, holding a match point at 40-30 in the first of those games.

Rybakina, ranked world No. 12 and the 2022 Wimbledon champion, was seeking her second title of the season following her win at the WTA 500 tournament in Strasbourg. She also holds two WTA 1000 titles won in Indian Wells and Rome in 2023. On her way to the semi-finals in Montreal, she defeated Hailey Baptiste, Jacqueline Cristian, Dayana Yastremska, and Marta Kostyuk.

Despite the loss, Rybakina remained positive about her performance. “Yeah, it was tough match, but overall I think successful week for me. Slowly getting better on the court, so yeah,” she said.

The 26-year-old Kazakh also acknowledged the difficulty posed by the heavy crowd support for Mboko, the home favourite. “Yeah, that wasn’t nice, of course,” Rybakina admitted. “I played in a lot of situations where the crowd was supporting the player, but I would say that here it was pretty tough from very beginning. I already felt it from the first game we played, and especially when it’s in between the serves. It is what it is. This is something I was kind of expecting, and definitely it didn’t depend anyhow on my serve or in the mistakes I did or wrong choices. It was obvious that the crowd is going to cheer for their player.”

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Rybakina has been working with coach Davide Sanguinetti since February 2025. In a recent interview, he outlined an ambitious plan for her career trajectory: “At the moment, I’m a sort of ferryman: I joined her team in February, without any work behind me. She explained to me more or less what she had done, and I asked her for two years of collaboration because I have my own working method: in the first year I would like to maintain the status quo, maybe finish at number 6 in the rankings, and next year I would like to take her to number one in the world: she has all the potential.”

ATP Masters Rolex Paris Masters

Sinner’s Near-Perfect Paris Run Rewrites His Season

Sinner dominated Paris to win the Rolex Paris Masters, extending a streak and reclaiming No. 1 now.

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Jannik Sinner completed a dominant week in Paris, beating Félix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 7-6 (4) to claim his first Rolex Paris Masters crown. “The past couple of months has been amazing,” Sinner said after the victory. “Trying to improve as a player and seeing these results makes me incredibly happy.”

October and the first days of November have been exceptional for Sinner. He is 16-1 since October 1, with three titles in four events. His only defeat came when he cramped in the heat in Shanghai and could not continue. In Paris he captured his fifth title of 2025 in just 11 events and extended his indoor winning streak to 26 matches. He became the first man in two years to win a Masters 1000 without dropping a set and reclaimed the No. 1 ranking, narrowing the year-end race with Carlos Alcaraz.

The last player to beat Sinner besides Alcaraz was Alexander Bublik in Halle on June 19.

After the U.S. Open final loss, Sinner said he would go back to the drawing board and add variety to his game. In the Paris final that transformation was evident. He used 20 drop shots across two sets and won 15 of those points. His crosscourt forehand drop, struck from above shoulder height, repeatedly forced Auger-Aliassime to defend both the baseline and the forecourt. Sinner never faced a break point in the match.

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In the second-set tiebreaker, at 2-2, Auger-Aliassime sent an easy forehand wide and Sinner seized the opportunity. He won the next point with an inside-out forehand winner, did the same to reach match point, and closed the match with a crosscourt backhand followed by a down-the-line backhand winner.

“It was such an intense final,” said Sinner, who was 2-2 against FAA before this match. “He was serving incredibly well. You have to use the small chances you have. I’m very happy with how I played [in the tiebreaker]. I was very consistent.”

Sinner remains No. 2 in the year-end race behind Alcaraz, but his recent run puts him within striking distance heading into the season-ending event in Turin.

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ATP Masters Rolex Paris Masters

Sinner reclaims ATP No. 1 after Paris Masters victory

Jannik Sinner returns to No. 1 after Paris Masters win, his fifth title of the 2025 season, Monday. .

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Jannik Sinner regained the ATP No. 1 ranking after defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime in the Rolex Paris Masters final. Sinner beat the Canadian 6-4, 7-6 (4) to lift his fifth title of the season, having already won the Australian Open, Wimbledon, Beijing and Vienna earlier in the year.

The Paris victory carries added significance beyond the trophy. With the win Sinner will return to No. 1 when the new ATP rankings are released on Monday, beginning his 66th career week at the top. His first 65 career weeks at No. 1 all came consecutively between June 10th, 2024 and September 7th, 2025, when Carlos Alcaraz took over following his triumph at the US Open.

Felix Auger-Aliassime had the alternative prize of qualifying for the ATP Finals if he had won, but the match went Sinner’s way in straight sets. The result also sets up a renewed battle for the top spot and the year-end No. 1 between Sinner and Alcaraz at the season-concluding ATP Finals, which begin next weekend.

This Paris title adds to what has been one of the most productive campaigns of Sinner’s career. It was described in tournament coverage as one of the biggest titles of the year and it completes a run that includes both Grand Slam and high-profile season events. The final underlined Sinner’s ability to perform on indoor hard courts and to close out a significant match under ranking pressure.

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Sinner’s return to No. 1 reshuffles the closing stages of the 2025 season and focuses attention on the ATP Finals as the next decisive meeting point among the contenders for the top ranking.

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ATP Masters Rolex Paris Masters

Sinner a win away from reclaiming No. 1 after 6-0, 6-1 Paris semi

Sinner cruised past Zverev 6-0, 6-1 in Paris; one victory in the final will return him to No. 1. Now

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Jannik Sinner reached his first Rolex Paris Masters final after a commanding 6-0, 6-1 semifinal victory over Alexander Zverev. Sinner needed just 62 minutes to end Zverev’s run and advance to his ninth ATP final of the year, having gone 4-4 in the first eight.

The win also marks Sinner’s ninth Masters 1000 final of his career; he was 4-4 in his previous eight at that level. Zverev had arrived at the semifinal following a physical 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) quarterfinal win over Daniil Medvedev, a match that finished late on Friday night.

With the Paris title on the line on Sunday, Sinner stands one victory away from returning to the ATP No. 1 ranking. If he captures the tournament, he will take the top spot back from Carlos Alcaraz when the new ATP rankings are released on Monday.

Sinner has spent 65 career weeks at No. 1, all consecutive, between June 10, 2024 and September 7, 2025, a period that ended when Alcaraz regained the position after winning this year’s US Open.

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The semifinal result continues Sinner’s run through the late-season hard-court swing and sets up a title match that could have immediate implications for the year-end standings. The Paris final presents him with the chance to convert a dominant semifinal performance into the single win needed to return to the sport’s highest ranking.

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