Tennis: World No. 2 Elena Rybakina beats Karolina Muchova to lift Stuttgart 2026 title

World No. 2 Elena Rybakina won her second title of the season with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Karolina Muchova in the Stuttgart final on Sunday (19 April).

The Kazakhstani's triumph at the WTA 500 clay-court tennis event came less than three months after she won on the hard courts of Melbourne at the Australian Open, beating top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka to seal her second Grand Slam title.

Playing in her third final of the season, top seed Rybakina raced to a 4-1 lead against seventh seed Muchova in the first set after converting a break point.

But the Czech player bounced back with a break of her own to level the contest at 5-5.

Rybakina then regained control, holding serve before breaking Muchova again to seal a hard-fought 7-5 opening set lead.

Buoyed by that momentum, she converted back-to-back break points in the second set to comfortably power home.

It was Rybakina’s second Stuttgart title, adding to her maiden success in 2024. The 26-year-old, who dropped just one set en route to Sunday’s final, did not play at the event in 2025.

The Stuttgart tournament is one of several tune-up events ahead of the French Open, the clay-court major that begins on 18 May in Paris.

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