Surprise in the women’s final: Rybakina defeats Sabalenka in Melbourne

In the final of the Australian Open in Melbourne, Jelena Rybakina was just as unperturbed by this interim result as she was by Aryna Sabalenka’s screams, which she used to add acoustic pressure to her shots.

Rybakina not only managed the rebreak in the third set, she even played five games in a row and served at 5:4 with four service winners in a row to make it 6:4, 4:6, 6:4. The 26-year-old used her very first match point with an ace. She received a winner’s check worth the equivalent of 2.44 million euros for her second major title after Wimbledon 2022.

After winning the repeat of the 2023 Melbourne final, she said to the defeated Belarusian Sabalenka: “I know it’s hard for you at the moment, but I’m sure we’ll play many more finals. I hope we can keep it up this year. You and your team are doing a great job.”

3rd place as a reward

The Kazakh reduced the head-to-head score to 7:8. Sabalenka lost for the fourth time in her eighth major final. Rybakina improves from fifth to third place in the WTA rankings.

The final took place in the Rod Laver Arena with the roof closed due to rain. Rybakina surprised the favorite in the first set and won it 6:4. Sabalenka made an unusually large number of mistakes and the 27-year-old increasingly began to struggle. In an extremely even game, the favorite hit back in the second round with a winning break 6:4.

During the entire tournament before the final, the opponents remained without losing a set.

Things remained exciting in the deciding sentence. Sabalenka got the first break early and took a 3-0 lead. That should actually be the preliminary decision. Rybakina coach Stefano Vukov shouted on the pitch: “You have to put in more energy.” And that helped enormously. The Kazakh woman didn’t let up and managed to equalize 3-3 in the sixth game. Rybakina even went from 0:3 to 5:3 and served at 5:4 to win the tournament.

Ace to finish

The tenth game of the third set also remained exciting. The strong server got her first championship point with a service winner and after 2:18 hours she won the final against the big favorite with an ace.

Exciting: Both finalists scored a total of 92 points each. Rybakina received the trophy for winning the tournament from two-time Melbourne winner Jennifer Capriati.