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Elena Rybakina got her first triumph on clay at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, overcoming the Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina in the final, who had to withdraw during the second set due to a physical problem. The Kazakh celebrated winning the coveted title in Rome (despite several controversies during the awards ceremony) and she talked about how difficult it was to win at the press conference.
She said: "It wasn't easy. It was a really long day. At first I was fine, I waited a long time. After about four hours it was really difficult. I spent time with my team, so we tried to talk and have some fun while waiting to go on the court." The winner of the Miami Open and finalist at the Australian Open took advantage of three withdrawals during the event: "They have been a really strange two weeks for me, I am referring to the three withdrawals but also the delays due to the rain.
I was always going to sleep very late, waking up almost like in the afternoon. I'm glad that these two difficult weeks ended well."
Rybakina now looks at Roland Garros
Rybakina expressed nice words towards the opponent, the Ukrainian Kalinina: "Very good results for Anhelina.
She played some difficult battles, I'm happy with her improvements. I hope she can continue like this. Too bad she didn't manage to finish the match, I hope it's nothing serious." Now her mind is projected towards the Roland Garros: "The tournament is quite long.
I hope I can go far at the French Open. I have good memories there, now I have even more matches on clay. It is important to arrive and be in good health, physically ready for battle. I think we are doing a good job with the team. We recall the Roland Garros 2023 will start on 28 May, withouth the 14 times winner Rafael Nadal.