An emotional Aryna Sabalenka yesterday battled back from a set down to beat Elena Rybakina and win the Australian Open and her first Grand Slam title.
The hard-hitting Belarusian collapsed to the court in tears after winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 against the Wimbledon champion in a 2 hour, 28 minute arm-wrestle at Rod Laver Arena.
Twenty-four-year-old Sabalenka wiped away tears before getting a warm hug from Moscow-born Rybakina, who played a full part in a thrilling match between two of the most powerful hitters in the women’s game.
Photo: AP
Sabalenka, the fifth seed, then ran to her player’s box to celebrate with her team.
“Thank you, my team, the craziest team on the tour. We’ve been through a lot of I would say downs last year,” she said after receiving the trophy. “Thank you so much for what you are doing for me. I love you guys.”
“I want to congratulate Elena for an incredible two weeks. You’re such a great player and of course we are going to have many more battles, hopefully in finals of the Grand Slams,” Sabalenka added.
It was a fitting finale to two weeks of drama at Melbourne Park, highlighted by brutal groundstrokes, precision serving and wonderful rallies from two players at the top of their game.
Rybakina cruised through the first set in 34 minutes, but Sabalenka scrapped her way back in a 57-minute second set to take it to a nervy decider.
It was then a case of which of the big servers would blink first in a toe-to-toe battle.
At 3-3 Rybakina — who represents Kazakhstan — could not find enough first serves, and although she saved two break points, a third was too much and Sabalenka had the finish line in sight.
An ace took her to 5-3 and Rybakina held to force Sabalenka to test her nerves and serve for the championship.
She was up to the challenge, but needed four nerve-shredding match points after a display where she hit an astonishing 51 winners and 17 aces to edge past the big-serving Rybakina.
Sabalenka is to rise to second in the world, equaling her career high.
Rybakina has the consolation of breaking into the top 10 for the first time, after reaching her second Grand Slam final in seven months. She was awarded no ranking points for her Wimbledon win because of the ban on Russian and Belarusian players there.
“I would like to congratulate Aryna. I know how hard you have worked for that,” Rybakina said.
“I had goosebumps when everyone was cheering for us. I’m looking forward to coming back next year. It was an amazing two weeks for me and hopefully I’m going to have the same results and even better,” she said.
Both players broke new ground in Melbourne this year.
Rybakina’s previous Australian Open best was a third-round appearance in 2020, while Sabalenka had exited in the fourth round in 2021 and last year.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have shown the team do not need star power to win trophies and with the French Ligue 1 title won with six games to spare, the French champions would look to finish the season without losing, manager Luis Enrique said on Saturday. A 1-0 victory over Angers SCO at the Parc des Princes helped PSG win their fourth straight Ligue 1 title and a record-extending 13th overall. PSG can still break Nantes’ 30-year-old record of 32 games unbeaten. Although Nantes lost one game en route to the title, no French club has ever gone an entire league
THREES KINGS: The Celtics claimed a piece of league history by setting a new record for the number of threes in a season, ending their game with 1,370 Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun on Friday combined for 65 points as the Houston Rockets halted Oklahoma City’s 11-game winning streak with a statement 125-111 victory. In a potential Western Conference finals preview, the Rockets produced a dominant all-round performance to jolt the top-seeded Thunder’s all-conquering preparations for the post-season. Green finished with 34 points from 11-of-24 shooting, while Turkish big man Sengun made 31 points as second-placed Houston improved to 51-27. Oklahoma City grabbed the lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter, but Houston soon knocked the Thunder out of their stride with a physical approach to move into the
RECORD WINNERS: The Catalan club, who are still in contention for a historic quadruple this season, are to face rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final Barcelona are to face rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final after Ferran Torres secured them a 1-0 win at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, progressing 5-4 on aggregate from the semi-final tie. Record 31-time winners Barca had the better of the clash at the Metropolitano after the wild 4-4 first-leg draw. The defeat leaves Diego Simeone’s Atletico with little to play for in the rest of the season. By contrast, the Catalans are on the hunt for a potential quadruple and are unbeaten this year, stretching their run to 21 games without defeat. Atletico were the last team to triumph
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju yesterday lost 2-4 to South Korea’s Lee Sang-su in the men’s singles semi-finals match at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Champions Incheon in South Korea. Lin, the world No. 14, defeated Japan’s Sora Matsushima 4-1 to reach the semi-finals, where he faced unexpectedly stiff competition from the world No. 45 Lee in front of the latter’s home crowd. The match started out even at 4-4, after which Lin pulled ahead to win the first game 11-5. He then lost the second game by the same score. In the third game, Lin blew an 8-5 lead, allowing Lee
RSS