Most prize money won by a tennis player at a single tournament (female)

Undefeated champion Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) collected an astonishing $5.235 million (£3.984 million) – the biggest prize pot in the history of women’s sport – by defeating world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka at the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 8 November 2025. Rybakina, seeded six and the last to qualify for the eight-woman singles tournament, won all three of her round-robin matches in the Serena Williams Group (against Amanda Anisimova, Iga Świątek and Ekaterina Alexandrova) and then dispatched Jessica Pegula in the semi-finals to make it through to the showpiece final at the King Saud University Indoor Arena.

A record $15.5 million (£11.79 million) in prize money was on offer at the 2025 WTA Finals ($12.4 million for the singles tournament and $3.1 million for the doubles competition), enabling Rybakina – as an undefeated champion – to top the $4.805 million (£3.711 million) won by Cori “Coco” Gauff at Riyadh’s 2024 WTA Finals, which offered a then-record prize pot of $15.25 million (£11.77 million). Furthermore, with prize money increasing at the four Grand Slam tournaments year on year, Rybakina’s $5.235-million payout exceeded the $5 million (£3.7 million) won by both Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open – the heftiest sums paid to the winners at any of the majors in 2025. It makes Rybakina tennis’ richest-ever winner at an ATP- or WTA-sanctioned event.

For Rybakina, the new world No.5, Riyadh was the culmination of an 11-match winning streak that stretched back to her WTA 500 tournament victory at China’s Ningbo Open on 19 October 2025. This title (the 10th of her career), along with a run to the semi-finals at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan, the following week (she withdrew before playing the semi-final), presented her with enough points to sneak into the line-up for Riyadh as one of the eight highest-ranked women on the WTA Tour. Rybakina prevailed 6–3, 7–6 in the final, running away with the second-set tie-break by seven points to love. The Kazakhstani served 13 aces (to Sabalenka’s five), won 82 points in total (Sabalenka 64) and secured an impressive 82% of her second-serve points, dwarfing Sabalenka’s 52%.

Despite her defeat, four-time Grand Slam winner Sabalenka could take comfort in ending 2025 as the world No.1, and, as runner-up in Riyadh, banking $2.695 million (£2.051 million), a sum that took her beyond Serena Williams’ 2013 single-season earnings record of $12,385,572 (£7,658,841).