Elena Rybakina cruises past Marta Kostyuk to win third title of 2024 in Stuttgart

Elena Rybakina needed just over an hour on Sunday to roll to her title title of 2024 at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.

After snapping world No.1 Iga Swiatek's 10-match winning streak in a nearly three-hour semifinal on Saturday, the fourth-ranked Kazakh was dominant in a 6-2, 6-2 win over unseeded Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk in the championship match to add to a season's title haul that also includes victories in Brisbane and Abu Dhabi thus far.

Rybakina broke Kostyuk in the first game of the match and hardly put a foot wrong from then on. In the opener, she lost just one point behind her first serve, and never faced a break point. In set two, Rybakina also broke Kostyuk's serve in the first game, and slammed the door on the only opportunities the 21-year-old had in the match five games later. A six-deuce sixth game proved crucial, in which Rybakina saved all three break points she faced in the match.

"I knew that I have to be focused from the beginning, and also, compared [to] the match with Iga, it's a lot different," Rybakina said afterwards. "Marta is coming forward, trying to take the ball early. She moves well. But still, the speed is different, and I was focusing not to rush, also to try to open the angle. ... I was trying just to be patient, and I think I did a really good job from the beginning 'til the end."

Kostyuk came into her third career final having knocked off a trio of Top 10 players in a row: No. 7 Zheng Qinwen, No. 3 Coco Gauff and No. 8 Marketa Vondrousova. She saved five match points in her three-set win against Australian Open finalist Zheng, and her win against Gauff, in which she trailed 6-4, 4-2, was her best career win by ranking to date.

In all, Kostyuk logged more than 10 hours on the court coming into the final, and admitted that the accumulation of matches had taken its toll.

"I think 90% my tiredness played a role today. Every morning I didn't know what to expect from myself on the court today, because really me being able to pull off this whole week and play an amazing tennis yesterday was something incredible and something I would never expect I can do," Kostyuk said.

"But today, obviously I was very nervous. I wanted to win a lot this one, and yeah, I think there were a lot of things together. I just couldn't probably bear it anymore.

"It sucks to lose in the final, especially a match like this. I couldn't produce a fight. She was really on top today. But overall, obviously very proud of myself this week."

The Ukrainian will nonetheless rise to a career-high of No. 21 in the WTA rankings on Monday.