Elena Rybakina has won her first title as world No 1 after beating Leylah Fernandez in the Ningbo Open final with the result edging her closer to securing the year-end No 1 title.
Three-time Grand Slam winner Rybakina replaced Aryna Sabalenka at the top of the WTA Rankings after the US Open and then lost her first match as No 1 at the China Open, but has bounced back in style in Ningbo.
Playing in her 28th singles final, the top seed defeats Fernandez 6-2, 6-2 in the final to win the 15th tournament of her career and fourth of 2026, having also lifted trophies at the Australian Open, Stuttgart Open and US Open.
This is the first time that Rybakina has successfully defended a WTA Tour singles title as she beat Ekaterina Alexandrova in the 2025 Ningbo Open final.
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Fernandez was looking to win her seventh title and second in the space of a month as she won the Singapore Open in September.
WTA Ranking Points Earned In Ningbo
Winning a WTA 500 event is worth 500 points, but players also defend points from the corresponding period 12 months ago and Rybakina dropped 195 points from a semi-final appearance in Tokyo at the start of the tournament.
As a result, she will only add 305 points (500 – 195) to her WTA Rankings tally and has moved to 9,501 points in the Live WTA Rankings, which puts her 1,951 points ahead of second-placed Sabalenka while third-placed Mirra Andreeva is another 1,315 points behind.
Rybakina, will also be in action at the Pan Pacific Open next week, is now on the cusp of being confirmed as the year-end No 1 despite the fact that she will drop 1,500 points at the WTA Finals.
Fernandez, meanwhile, started the tournament at No 30 in the official rankings, but her run to the final has earned her a seven-place jump to No 23.
The former world No 13 picked up 325 for finishing runner-up, but she had 60 points to defend from 2025 so she will go home with 265 points.
The Canadian is just 248 points behind Belinda Bencic in 20th place in the Live WTA Rankings and both will be in action at the WTA 500 Pan Pacific Open in Japan next week.
Prize Money Earned
Rybakina, who went home with a massive $5,500,000 cheque for her title run at the US Open, earned $185,500 for winning the Ningbo Open.
Her latest title win will help her to crack the $11,000,000 mark for earnings in 2026 as she was on $10,915,445 before the WTA 500 event while her career tally sits at just over $35m.
Fernandez, a 2021 US Open runner-up, collected $114,500 and will move past the $9,000,000 mark.
The Canadian was on $1,629,341 for the year and $8,987,480 before the Ningbo Open.
