Elena Rybakina in the final at Indian Wells: "This is incredible!"

• Sports

One of the big surprises of the Indian Wells tournament is Elena Rybakina's victory over world number one Iga Swiatek. More than the outcome, however, it was the result with the tennis player who conceded only four games to her strong rival.

Elena spoke thus at the press conference, releasing the following statements: "This was truly incredible for me, I played a great match. I think one of my best matches of the year and I hope to maintain this level also for the final.

In the warm-up I felt as usual, but on the courth I felt really good. In these days I faced some difficult matches, but I recovered quickly and I think my team did a great job too. I was also a bit surprised by how good I felt and my performance.

I already did well in Australia and I hope to continue like this for the rest of the season. I've had two great finals in the last few months and I'm improving a lot in this period. In the last four years, to tell the truth, I've improved but I can only prove it with the results."

Rybakina and the Curse Sabalenka

The precedents between the two finalists speak Belarusian and Elena commented on this: "I have lost the last four and almost always in three sets, I only think about keeping my serve and playing the important moments well.

It won't be an easy match and I have to play the most difficult moments better. I'm confident that things will be different this time! Medvedev talks about slow surface? I think this shows that the surface doesn't change my value much and that I can do well even on slow surfaces, I had a tough battle in my first matches but this time the conditions were perfect to play.

I don't want to say that on clay I play badly but I definitely have to improve them. Physically I'm fine, I think my aggressive style helped me and overall I had a good challenge. Iga is a tough opponent, but I think I had a really great match."