Sabalenka wins first Grand Slam title in tense final

•Djokovic Looks To Make History Against Tsitsipas Today

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus defeated Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 4/6; 63; 6/4 to clinch her maiden Grand Slam title. It was her fourth straight career victory over her opponent on the Women’s Tennis Association Tour. Aryna had also won the warm-up tournament in Adelaide earlier this month.

The match was a battle of serves. In the first set, each player held serve quickly. Sabalenka raced to 40-0 in the third game but was taken to deuce before conceding a crucial break. Elena held serve to consolidate and take the sixth game for a 4-2 lead. Sabalenka delivered one of her 24 aces of the match to reduce the tally in the seventh game and broke Elena’s serve to level four all. However, the Belarusian committed consecutive double faults to trail 0-30 and eventually lost the ninth game. Elena served out the set at love. It was the first time Elena took the first set in their encounters.

The second set featured long games. Although Sabalenka opened with an ace, she trailed 15-40 and held serve after a deuce. In the same way, Rybakina was stretched before leveling 1 all. Aryna clinched the first break of the set in the fourth game and delivered her ninth ace to lead 4-1. She marched ahead 5-2 with a succession of service winners while Elena struggled to hold the eighth game. Serving at 30-all in the ninth game, Sabalenka made two aces to claim the set 6/4.
Rybakina won the first game of the third set and Sabalenka Rybakina committed her first (only) double fault to 30-40 but she clinched the fifth game on the third advantage point.

It was a different story in the seventh game in which a let-cord gave Sabalenka a sitter that she put away for 30-40. She hit her 45th winner of the match to clinch the crucial break on the second advantage. Although she lost the first point of the eighth game, Sabalenka used her powerful serves to reach 40-15 and closed out with an ace for 5-3. When Rybakina lost the point for 15-all, she bent low with her head dropped, an indication of fatigue and bewilderment. However, she struggled to hold her serve.

The final game was an epic drama. Sabalenka floated a defensive shot deep to the backhand side of Rybakina who sent the ball out. Although she trailed 15-30, a timely ace leveled to 30-all while a double fault placed Sabalenka in threat of a service break. However, she hit a forehand winner to deuce and saved another break point. Rybakina netted a backhand for the third match point but it was saved. The epic battle ended on the fourth match point when Rybakina hit the ball into the net.

As Aryna received the Daphne Arkhurst trophy, with Australia and Kazakhstan flags flustering, Belarus’ flag was conspicuously missing, just as the country’s name was not mentioned in the pre-match introduction of the finalists or in any official publication of the tournament.

Meanwhile, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic will be looking to make history as the only player, male or female, to win 10 Australian Open titles, when he takes to the court against Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas this morning. Djokovic, nicknamed the King of Melbourne, has never lost a semi-final or final in Australia, and is a perfect 9-0 down under since he won his first grand slam in Melbourne against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2008. Since then he has gone on to win it eight more times and is looking to cement his place as the Greatest of All Time when he wins today. Novak has not lost a match in Australia since 2018.

Djokovic, who beat Paul in the semifinals to set a new landmark of 27 consecutive wins in the men’s singles in Melbourne Park, is aiming for a record-extending tenth title, which would equal Rafael Nadal’s tally of 22 major men’s titles, but Tsitsipas stands in his way. This is not the first time the duo would meet in a final. Two years ago, they met at the French Open Finals where the Greek took the first two sets against Djokovic who looked down and out. The latter however stormed back to win the next three sets and his second French Open title.