I can beat anyone: Rybakina

AFP, Melbourne :
Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina blew the Australian Open women’s draw wide open by beating red-hot favourite Iga Swiatek in straight sets on Sunday before declaring: “I can be number one.”
Rybakina swept past the 2022 French and US Open winner 6-4, 6-4 in 1hr 29min on Rod Laver Arena in a powerful display.
She moves on to a quarter-final against 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, who provided the second upset of a crazy few minutes at Melbourne Park by knocking out seventh seed Coco Gauff 7-5, 6-3 on neighbouring Margaret Court Arena.
Rybakina, who was born in Moscow but represents Kazakhstan, told reporters she has “a lot of things to improve” but is aiming for the top.
“If I perform like I did this week, and if it’s going to be consistently, then for sure I will say that I can be number one,” the 23-year-old said.
“I can beat anyone.”
Rybakina did not get any ranking points for winning Wimbledon because of the ban on Russian and Belarusian players, meaning her world ranking of 25 does not accurately reflect her growing stature in the women’s game.