On a temperate evening in Melbourne, Aryna Sabalenka—appearing in her fourth consecutive Australian Open final, with two titles at the tournament already under her belt—ceded what would have been her fifth Grand Slam win to the 26-year-old Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, 4–6, 6–4, 6–4.
The win marked a major comeback for Rybakina, the world number five, who had not won a major since 2022, when she bested then world number three Ons Jabeur at Wimbledon. In Melbourne this year she didn’t drop a set until the final, trouncing Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinal and semifinal, respectively.
In turn, Saturday’s match represented an emotional defeat for Sabalenka—a fearsome competitor on a bad day—whose tremendous power saw her take a commanding lead in the third set, 3–0, before going on to lose five consecutive games as Rybakina served out the match.