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Rybakina outclasses Muchova to win Stuttgart WTA title / Photo: © AFP
Rybakina outclasses Muchova to win Stuttgart WTA title
Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina picked up her second title of the year as she outclassed Karolina Muchova 7-5, 6-1 to win the WTA Stuttgart indoor clay-court tournament on Sunday.
Top seed Rybakina, 26, snatched a tight opening set with two breaks against her seventh-seeded Czech opponent after 53 minutes on court in Germany.
The Kazakh never looked back in the second set rushing to a 5-0 lead as Muchova struggled with her serve, sealing victory and the 13th title of her career after 1hr 18 min.
Rybakina, who finished runner-up at Indian Wells last month, regained the title she won two years ago and drives off with a second Porsche sports car -- the coveted prize awarded to the champion in Stuttgart.
Muchova had lead Rybakina 2-1 in previous meetings heading into the title match having won their most recent clash on hard court in Brisbane in January.
Rybakina had a relatively smooth run this week dropping only one set and dispatching her toughest opponent world number six Mirra Andreeva by the same score on Saturday.
Muchova, the 2023 Roland Garros runner-up, was playing the first 500-level final of her career.
The 29-year-old had eliminated French Open champion Coco Gauff in three sets in the quarter-finals but she was no match for two-time Grand Slam winner Rybakina.
Rybakina dominated the early part of the first set but the former Wimbledon champion had to wait until her third set point on Muchova's serve, to clinch it.
She then cruised to the line, winning seven games in a row between the end of the first and the second set.
W. Winogradow--BTZ
