2 min readJan 31, 2026 04:46 PM IST
Elena Rybakina won her first Australian Open title when she defeated Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the final on Saturday. Four years ago she won the first set but lost the final in three. This time, after breaking in the first game and taking the first set, she rallied after losing the second set and going down 3-0 in the third.
She won five straight games and then closed out with an ace on her first championship point. It was a second major title for fifth-seeded Rybakina, who won Wimbledon in 2022 and entered that final four years ago as the only major winner in the contest.
In the first Grand Slam final since 2008 featuring players yet to drop a set, it was top seed Sabalenka who blinked first under the Rod Laver Arena roof as Rybakina came out all guns blazing to break in the opening game and wrest control.
The Kazakh fifth seed’s huge ball-striking caused all sorts of problems for twice champion Sabalenka, as she comfortably got to set point in the 10th game and finished it off to send alarm bells ringing in her opponent’s dugout.
Having arrived with 46 hardcourt Grand Slam match wins from the last 48, four-times major winner Sabalenka found her groove and started the second set more positively, but Rybakina saved three breakpoints to hold for 1-1.
A wayward forehand from Rybakina handed Sabalenka the chance to level at one set apiece, and the Belarusian gleefully took it to turn the final set into a shootout destined to be decided by whichever player held their nerves.
Having beaten Rybakina from a similar situation in the 2023 title clash, Sabalenka unleashed a flurry of winners to go ahead 3-0, but the Kazakh erased the deficit and broke for 4-3 before securing the victory to add to her 2022 Wimbledon triumph.
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