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Elena Rybakina received the Australian Open title with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory over top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday that avenged her loss within the championship decider right here in 2023.
4 years in the past she received the primary set however misplaced the ultimate in three. This time, after breaking within the first sport and taking the primary set, she rallied after dropping the second set and taking place 3-0 within the third.
She received 5 straight video games after which closed out with an ace on her first championship level.
It was a second main title for fifth-seeded Rybakina, who received Wimbledon in 2022 and entered that last 4 years in the past as the one main winner within the contest.
Whereas Sabalenka went on to win one other three majors, together with back-to-back triumphs in Australia and the 2024 and ’25 victories on the US Open, Rybakina’s outcomes dipped and he or she didn’t attain one other main last till this match.
A win over Sabalenka on the season-ending WTA Finals final November has modified her profession trajectory.
Rybakina went on the assault from the beginning and her serve was sturdy, with six aces and — other than the 2 breaks on the finish of the second set and the beginning of the third — she fended off six of the breakpoint possibilities she confronted.
Whereas Sabalenka’s grunts and roars intensified and her effusive “let’s go” self-encouragement elevated in regularity because the match wore on, Rybakina maintained a quiet, virtually serene, composure.
Ultimately, she let her serve and her returns do the speaking.
The pair hugged on the internet. Rybakina clapped her left hand on the strings of her racket and held her arm as much as the group triumphantly.
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