World No. 1 Elena Rybakina defended her Ningbo Open title on Sunday, beating Canada's Leylah Fernandez 6-2, 6-2 in the final in China in just 1 hour and 16 minutes.

Rybakina broke Fernandez's serve twice in each set and did not drop her own serve throughout the final, sealing the win on her first championship point with a forehand winner. It was her third consecutive tour-level win over Fernandez, against whom she now leads their head-to-head 4-2.

A first successful title defence

The victory is Rybakina's fourth title of 2026, the most by any player this year, after the Australian Open, Stuttgart and the US Open. It is her 15th career singles title and her seventh at WTA 500 level — and the first time she has successfully defended a singles title, having won in Ningbo last year by beating Mirra Andreeva in the final.

Rybakina is now 8-0 in her career at the Ningbo event. The title also strengthens her bid for the year-end world No. 1 ranking ahead of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo this week and the season-ending WTA Finals at Indian Wells from 8 November.

“Very happy and definitely for me, Ningbo is already a special place,” Rybakina said after the win. “Last year, I started to play really well from this tournament and all the way, so hopefully it's going to give me more motivation and more good energy to continue this season.”

Source: WTA