Dominant Against the Best: Elena Rybakina holds victory against every top 10 ranking after defeating Anisimova in WTA Finals

Elena Rybakina's stunning victory over two-time Grand Slam finalist Amanda Anisimova was the perfect start to her WTA Finals campaign in Riyadh, but it also ticked another accomplishment off a very impressive list. She has now defeated every top 10 ranking in her career.

Number four was the only one missing from the collection, with her having the chance to complete this against the inform American. Fortunately for Rybakina, she had come into a strong vein of form herself, recently just squeezing into this event after picking up the Ningbo Open title and reaching the semi-finals of the Pan Pacific Open before pulling out.

Her first victory over the player ranked world number one occurred in the fourth round of the 2023 Australian Open. In the fourth round, she defeated Iga Swiatek before charging all the way to her second major final. The Kazakhstani has an incredible record against the number one ranked player, having defeated whoever that was on seven separate occasions. These were against one of Swiatek of Aryna Sabalenka, with the most recent coming against the Belarusian in Cincinnati.

She has also beaten Sabalenka twice when she was in number two, but her maiden win over the number two ranked player was her biggest in her career. She defeated Ons Jabeur in the 2022 Wimbledon final to clinch her only Grand Slam title up to date. Two years beforehand, she had defeated world number three Karolina Pliskova enroute to the Dubai Championships final.

Her very recent victory over Anisimova comes in next. It was their first senior meeting after previously clashing in the French Open girls' event back in 2017. Elina Svitolina was the number five in the world when she fell to Rybakina at Eastbourne. It is the only time she has ever overcome an opponent in this ranking spot. She has had slightly more success with the world number six. When Simona Halep retired from their Wuhan Open third-round clash, it was Rybakina's second top 10 victory. The first came just a year later, with the opponent being former world number seven Caroline Garcia. Ranked number 450, it was a seismic shock in the tennis world, and something that put Rybakina firmly on the map. After finding herself 6-4 down, she fought her way back into the match, surviving a match point ahead of clinching a brace of tiebreaks late on to complete a sensational victory.

The number eight ranking has only been beaten once, and that was no other than Serena Williams at Roland Garros back in 2021. While the 23-time Grand Slam champion was not at her previous startling heights, it was still a huge win for Rybakina, who continued to make a name for herself. Later that year, she defeated the world number nine Garbine Muguruza in straight sets to reach the Olympic semi-final. Unfortunately, two defeats saw her walk away with nothing except another top 10 victory.

To wrap this list up, she has got the better of the 10th ranked player twice, both coming this year. She came back to defeat Paula Badosa in Dubai before recently overcoming Ekaterina Alexandrova to claim the title in Ningbo.

The top 10 is complete. Next, Rybakina can work on filling out the top 50. With a bit of fortune and class, this could be done relatively quickly with only five rankings yet to feel the 26-year-old's wrath. She is missing out on the number 16, 25, 34, 37 and 43 ranked players. She still has plenty of time to complete this mind-boggling record, with many more years on court in prospect for the former Wimbledon champion.