World number one moved into the quarterfinals of the Ningbo Open on Thursday in her first match back from a foot injury. The top seed and defending champion was leading 5-0 when Polina Kudermetova retired.
Elena Rybakina, the Moscow-born Kazakh, looked sharp from the start on the hard courts in eastern China. Polina Kudermetova, ranked 105 in the world, was unable to continue and called time on the match because of an injury of her own. The retirement handed a place in the last eight without having to complete the set. For a player coming back from a recent absence, the short outing provides useful match time while protecting her from a longer physical battle.
Rybakina, 27, claimed the title in September to secure her third Grand Slam crown. That victory also moved her past into the world number one ranking. The Ningbo Open is the first event she has contested since those New York highs. Her presence as both top seed and defending champion sets a clear target as she tries to build on that momentum.
The path back to competition was not entirely smooth. Elena Rybakina was stunned in the second round of the in Beijing earlier this month. She then withdrew from the Wuhan Open, citing a foot injury. The decision to skip Wuhan allowed time for recovery before she returned in Ningbo. Thursday’s result shows she is ready to compete again at the highest level, even if the match ended early.
Elena Rybakina will next face Poland’s unseeded Katarzyna Kawa in the quarterfinals. Kawa has already shown she can upset higher-ranked players to reach this stage. The match gives Rybakina a clear opportunity to extend her run and test her game against a different style after the brief opener. As defending champion, she remains the favourite, yet the early finish against Kudermetova means she must quickly adjust to a fuller match.
The win keeps her title defence alive and reinforces her status at the top of the rankings. After the triumph and the brief interruptions that followed, Ningbo offers Rybakina a chance to string together consecutive victories again. A place in the quarter-finals is the first step. How she handles Kawa will show whether the return from injury has fully restored her rhythm on the Asian hard-court swing.
