Sabalenka was crowned Australian Open winner for the first time

The 24-year-old from Belarus wrestled in Melbourne on Saturday in the high-class final of the Grand Slam event, worth the equivalent of 49.26 million euros, against Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan after 2:28 hours with 4: 6.6: 3.6: 4 low. Sabalenka thus won the trophy in her final premiere at one of the four major tournaments.

Sabalenka can look forward to a check for the equivalent of 1.95 million euros, while Rybakina also receives just over one million. In any case, Sabalenka was already the new number two in the WTA ranking before the final. Rybakina, who eliminated top favorite Iga Swiatek (POL) on the way to the final, is the first Kazakh to climb to tenth place.

“I’m sorry for my English. I’m still shaking and I’m very nervous,” said the twelve-time tournament winner after her biggest sporting day to date. “It’s an inspiration to get the trophy from you,” said Sabalenka, who had warmed up to Melbourne with the title in Adelaide, towards tennis legend Billie Jean King. And in the direction of Rybakina, who also lost to her in the fourth duel, there were also congratulations. “I hope that we will have many more duels, hopefully in Grand Slam finals.”

As usual, Sabalenka also thanked her team. “Maybe the craziest team on the tour. You guys deserve this trophy, we went through a lot of lows last year.” And in the direction of the audience, the new winning face thanked the major level for the great atmosphere. “I hope I can show you even better tennis next year,” she set a high bar after a strong performance. Rybakina also congratulated her conqueror: “What a great start to the season for you. Hopefully we’ll have many more fights like this for the rest of the season.”

Rybakina actually got off to a better start, taking the serve from the major final debutant in the third game. But Sabalenka managed to equalize after being 2:4 behind to make it 4:4 before she was broken again to make it 4:5. Rybakina didn’t miss the chance and served to lead the set 1-0.

In the second round, Sabalenka quickly led 4:1 after a break to make it 3:1. Even though the fifth in the world rankings then missed three more breakballs to make it 5: 1 and two set and break balls to make it 5: 2, the 24-year-old from Minsk then managed to equalize the set to make it 6: 3.

So the decision had to be made in the third set, which was balanced up to 3:3. However, Sabalenka seemed more determined, she was the much louder in comparison to the stoically quiet Rybakina the whole match anyway. After a missed breakball to make it 3:2, Sabalenka used her fourth chance at 3:3 to take the serve from the Kazakh to make it 4:3 and then make it 5:3. At 5:4, Sabalenka had to reserve: after two missed match points, she had to fend off a breakball to make it 5:5 before she took her fourth chance to triumph.