Elena Rybakina would likely head to the Australian Open full of confidence after yesterday demolishing Aryna Sabalenka in the Brisbane International final, while Grigor Dimitrov upset Holger Rune to win his first title since 2017.
Rybakina, who is to become world No. 3, won the first eight games in a row on her way to a 6-0, 6-3 win in just 73 minutes over the Australian Open champion in a repeat of last year’s Melbourne Park final.
It was her sixth WTA title and comes a week before the first Grand Slam of the year.
Photo: AFP
“For sure it gives me confidence,” she said about her Australian Open prospects. “But this week is just the beginning for all the players.”
The 2022 Wimbledon winner was in irresistible form all week, spending only three hours and 40 minutes on court in her four matches.
In the final, Rybakina outshone the Belarusian in all aspects, serving beautifully and hitting her groundstrokes with power and depth.
She said she was surprised at her form after being sick in the lead-up and unable to practice before the tournament because of rain.
“Also the first few days here it was really tough with the jet lag and everything,” she said. “I’m just pleased with the way I started the tournament because I was not feeling the greatest physically after the illness and everything.”
Sabalenka also had an impressive run to the final, but she appeared out of sorts and made a host of unforced errors.
Sabalenka saw the humorous side during the presentations, laughingly blaming her own team for the loss.
“Congratulations to my team. Six-0, 6-3. That’s all your fault guys,” she said.
“Of course we should have finished this week differently. but I think we showed some great tennis,” she added. “Hopefully we’ll do better at the Australian Open.”
Bulgaria’s Dimitrov claimed his first title since 2017 with a 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 win over Denmark’s world No. 8 Rune.
Dimitrov was once touted as the player most likely to break the stranglehold that Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray had at the top of the men’s game.
After winning four titles in 2017, including Brisbane, he never reached the heights expected of him. Yesterday was a welcome return to the winner’s circle.
In a tight contest between two evenly matched players, Dimitrov took the few chances he had to win a tight tiebreak then break Rune at 3-3 in the second set.
He held on to clinch a high quality final, winning the match with a backhand volley.
AUCKLAND CLASSIC
AFP, AUCKLAND, New Zealand
Coco Gauff yesterday held her nerve to beat Elina Svitolina in a grueling three-set final to retain her Auckland Classic title in an ideal warm-up for the Australian Open.
The world No. 3 and top-seeded American demonstrated her grit by fighting back to win 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-3 against the Ukrainian second seed, whose participation had been in doubt after limping through her semi-final the night before.
However, Svitolina fully tested the US Open Champion for the first time in the tournament, with last year’s Auckland winner Gauff dropping her first set in two tournaments in the New Zealand city.
“This is the first time ever having to defend a title so I’m really happy I was able to do it today,” said Gauff, who won her maiden Grand Slam title in New York in September last year.
UNITED CUP
Staff writer, with AP, SYDNEY
Reigning Olympic champion Alexander Zverev and partner Laura Siegemund yesterday fought through a brutal mixed doubles tiebreaker to beat Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz and Iga Swiatek 10-4, 5-7, 6-4 in a match that went past midnight for Germany to win the United Cup final.
Zverev earlier saved two match points in a remarkable comeback to beat Hurkacz in an epic three-setter to send the final into the deciding mixed doubles match.
The sixth-ranked Zverev showed plenty of stamina in returning from the previous night’s early morning finish to rally from a set down and two match points and defeat the No. 9-ranked Hurkacz 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 in a three-hour epic at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney.
Zverev was playing his fifth game in three days, including a 2:20am local time finish in Germany’s marathon semi-final victory over Australia the day before, where he was a member of the team that clinched the mixed doubles, and the tie, in a super tiebreaker.
Earlier, top-ranked Swiatek gave her Poland team an early lead with a straight-sets win against Angelique Kerber.
The 22-year-old Swiatek beat Kerber 6-3, 6-0 in 70 minutes to stretch her win-streak to 16 matches, after the four-time major winner finished 2023 with title wins at the China Open and the WTA Finals in Mexico.
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