Fifth seed Aryna Sabalenka is the women’s singles champion at the 2023 Australian Open.
The triumph improved her record to 11 straight wins in 2023 and sealed her first-ever Grand Slam title and her maiden trophy in Melbourne.
The 24-year-old fought back to defeat world No. 25 Elena Rybakina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a hard-fought contest that lasted for two hours and 28 minutes at the Rod Laver Arena.
She started the first set poorly, allowing Rybakina to come back from 40-0 down to win the first game and eventually the first set, ending Sabalenka’s 20-set winning streak.
The Kazakh was impressive with her service early in the match, but the right hand of Sabalenka gained control after the first set loss, rallying back to take the second set.
The Belarusian won 52 first serve points and had 17 aces to her opponent’s nine, a part of her game she had evidently worked on after her poor serve history.
She ended the match with 51 winners, took three break points, and won a total of 110 points as she finished strong in front of a park crowd to hand Rybakina a fourth defeat in as many meetings between the two.
An evidently happy Sabalenka thanked the fans for their support and dedicated the historic victory to her team, led by coach Anton Dubrov, after receiving the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy from the great Billie Jean King.
“Thank you for an amazing atmosphere and of course my team, the craziest team on tour I would say. We’ve been through a lot of downs last year, we worked so hard and you guys deserve this trophy, it’s more about you than me. I love you guys,” she said.
“I need a few days to realise what happened. I’m speechless. It was super emotional at the end and I was super happy I was able to handle all the emotions in the last game. It was super tough.”
“I hope next year I come back stronger and I’ll show you even better tennis,” the newly-crowned women’s champion added.
Queen of Melbourne 👑#AusOpen • #AO2023 pic.twitter.com/GZzseuGcCQ
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 28, 2023
Rybakina, who was also playing in her first-ever Australian Open final and the second Grand Slam final of her career, can be proud of herself, as her run to the final was nothing short of legendary.
Coming into Melbourne as the 22nd-seed, she defeated a number of big names on her way to her maiden final.
The 23-year-old saw off 2022 Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins in the third round, World No. 1 and three-time grand slam champion Iga Swiatek in the fourth round, and 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the quarterfinal before claiming a straight-sets victory over two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka in the semifinal.
After the finals defeat, the reigning Wimbledon champion congratulated her opponent and thanked the crowd in Melbourne for their unending support.
“First I would like to congratulate Aryna. I know how hard you’ve worked for that and also your team. Hopefully we’re going to have many more battles,” she said.
“Of course I want to say a big thank you to my team for the great job we’ve done in pre-season and over the last four years.”
“The atmosphere was amazing, I had goose bumps. Thank you everyone for the support and I look forward to coming back next year.”
Thank you, Elena 👏
A super fortnight from the No.22 seed. #AusOpen • #AO2023 pic.twitter.com/xE8mZ255Zr
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 28, 2023
