Rybakina targets rare post-Australian Open triumph at WTA Qatar Open
The Kazakh is aiming to become the first player since Victoria Azarenka in 2013 to win their next event after lifting the Australian Open women’s singles title
Elena Rybakina, Doha 2026
Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina is happy to be back on tour at this week’s WTA Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha, where the Kazakh will be aiming to do what no one has accomplished on the women’s tour since 2013: win their next event after lifting the Australian Open women’s singles title.
The last player to do so was Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka, who followed up the second of her consecutive Australian Open victories with the title in Doha. Since then, nine women have won the next 12 editions of the season’s opening Grand Slam, but none of them — including the likes of Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Aryna Sabalenka — has been able to win their next tournament on tour. (Note: Williams took a maternity break after her 2017 title and did not win her comeback event in 2018, while Ash Barty retired after winning the Australian Open in 2022.)
“I’m happy to be back and looking forward to playing. Of course it’s been not much time since Australian Open, but I had some time to rest. I think it’s good for me to start here, to still try to keep the momentum, and hopefully I can play well here,” Rybakina told the media in Doha, where she is seeded second behind Iga Swiatek.
However, a cold she suffered on her way home from Melbourne, which cut short her celebrations, will not help that cause.
“On the way home I had a cold, so I had to really rest a couple days and didn’t do much. I had to unpack my bags and the time flew like this, so I’m here (laughing). But now I think, it’s a good momentum to try to keep going,” she added.
“I don’t put too much pressure or expectations, that’s for sure” – Rybakina
The Australian Open was Rybakina’s second Grand Slam title, with her first coming at Wimbledon in 2022. The 26-year-old said her win this time around felt very different to her first Slam because her triumph at the All England Club came as a complete surprise.
“Of course it is different, because at Wimbledon, first of all, it was really not expected. I think I wasn’t really prepared that way also, but in the end everything turned out great for me. Of course it was a lot of emotions, different ones. In Australia, I reached the final a couple years ago, so I kind of knew the road. Of course, every day is different, new expectations and probably my approach to each match is a little bit different. This time it is different, but at the same time I feel like it’s more of a job. I try to really prepare for each match differently.”
The world No. 3 knows the season is long and while she keen to keep her momentum going, she is not putting too much pressure on herself.
“Hopefully this week is going to be as good in Australia, but if not we have so many tournaments ahead, and there are big ones, so we’ll try to work on things and get good results. I think the matches is the best practices also at the end of the day. So we’ll see how I’m going to feel here and how the matches will go. But again, it’s a good practice, no matter what. We still try to work on some things with the team. I don’t put too much pressure or expectations, that’s for sure. I definitely want to do well, and we’ll just see how it’s going to go day by day.”
Rybakina will open her campaign in Doha against China’s Xinyu Wang or Colombia’s Emiliana Arango on Tuesday.
