World

Rybakina secures year-end No. 1 ranking at Pan Pacific Open as Osaka gets eliminated

TOKYO: Top-ranked Elena Rybakina secured the year-end No. 1 ranking with a last-16 win at the Pan Pacific Open on Thursday, while Naomi Osaka lost in front of her home crowd. Rybakina beat Yulia Putintseva 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals and will stay the world No. 1 at the conclusion of a year in which she won two Grand Slams — the Australian Open and the US Open. Having won Wimbledon in 2022, Rybakina — a 27-year-old born in Russia but representing Kazakhstan — is only a French Open t