Rybakina rallies past Sabalenka to win Australian Open in three-set thriller

Elena Rybakina stood on the baseline under the Rod Laver Arena roof, bounced the ball three times and sent a flat serve out wide. Aryna Sabalenka barely moved. The ace sealed a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory Saturday night in the Australian Open women’s final, and Rybakina allowed herself only a small fist pump and a brief glance toward her box.

In a little more than two hours, the 26-year-old from Kazakhstan had rewritten the story of one of the sport’s most important rivalries, claimed her first Australian Open title and completed a comeback from 0-3 down in the deciding set against the world’s top-ranked player.

The win delivered Rybakina her second Grand Slam singles trophy, following Wimbledon in 2022, and avenged her loss to Sabalenka in the 2023 Australian Open final on the same court. It also tightened what has become a three-way battle for supremacy in women’s tennis among Sabalenka, Rybakina and Iga Swiatek.

“It’s an incredible achievement. I’m super happy and proud,” Rybakina told the crowd during the trophy ceremony. “It was a really tough battle. At 0-3 in the third, I didn’t really expect to turn it around.”

The fifth-seeded Rybakina won in 2 hours, 18 minutes under a closed roof after drizzle in Melbourne, taking six of the last seven games of the match. The total points won finished level at 92-92, a measure of how little separated the two heavy-hitting baseliners.

The result snapped Sabalenka’s bid for a third Australian Open crown after titles in 2023 and 2024 and her fourth consecutive final at Melbourne Park. The 27-year-old Belarusian, who came in as the top seed, reigning U.S. Open champion and clear favorite with bookmakers, had not lost a set this fortnight until Rybakina took the opener.

“Right now I’m really speechless,” Sabalenka said on court. “I want to congratulate you on an incredible run and incredible tennis. Such an incredible achievement. I love being here. Let’s hope next year is going to be a better year.”

Fast start, furious finish

Rybakina set the tone from the first game, breaking Sabalenka immediately and consolidating for a 2-0 lead. She absorbed the top seed’s pace, redirected the ball with her trademark flat groundstrokes and relied on a serve that has become one of the most reliable weapons in the game.

Serving at 4-3, Rybakina faced two break points but erased them with a timely ace and a forehand winner, then closed out the opening set 6-4 when Sabalenka pushed a backhand long. It was the first set Sabalenka had dropped all tournament.

The second set was tighter. An early 10-minute game at 1-0 to Sabalenka signaled a shift; Rybakina had to fend off three break points just to stay on serve. Both women held until 5-4, when Sabalenka finally broke through, pressuring Rybakina into a forehand error on the first of three set points to level the match.

When Sabalenka surged to 3-0 in the final set, the contest appeared to be following the pattern of their 2023 final, when she recovered from a set down to claim her maiden major. Instead, Rybakina regrouped.

“I just tried to focus point by point,” Rybakina said later. “With Aryna, the game can change so quickly. I knew if I could make a few returns, maybe it would be different.”

She held for 1-3, broke back as Sabalenka’s errors crept up again and then began to control more of the baseline exchanges. A run of four straight games put Rybakina ahead 4-3. Serving at 5-4 for the championship, she fell behind 0-15 before cracking consecutive forehand winners and earning a championship point with another big first serve. The ace that followed ended it.

Official figures showed Rybakina finishing with 28 winners and six aces, and committing fewer double faults than Sabalenka. Both played aggressive, first-strike tennis, but in the key moments Rybakina’s margins were marginally safer.

Her celebration was characteristically restrained: a brief wave to the stands, a quick hug with Sabalenka at the net and a calm walk to her chair.

“Maybe inside I’m more emotional,” she said with a smile in her news conference. “But I’m just trying to stay calm until the end.”

A rivalry at the center of the sport

Saturday’s final was the 15th meeting between the pair, with Sabalenka leading their head-to-head before the match. It was their second Grand Slam championship match against each other, following Sabalenka’s three-set win in Melbourne three years ago, and continued a series that has stretched from Wimbledon to the WTA Finals.

They first met on a major stage in the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2021, won by Sabalenka. Since then, they have traded big wins across hard courts and grass, including at Indian Wells, Beijing and Madrid. Rybakina’s victory over Sabalenka at the 2025 WTA Finals in Riyadh — a straight-sets win on indoor hard courts — hinted at a shift in the rivalry that this Australian Open result underlined.

Rybakina acknowledged Sabalenka’s role in pushing her to raise her level.

“It’s hard to find the right words now, but I want to congratulate Aryna for her amazing results in the last couple of years,” she said. “I hope we’re going to play many more finals together.”

With this win, Rybakina is projected to rise back to No. 3 in the rankings, equaling her career high. Sabalenka will retain the No. 1 spot thanks to back-to-back U.S. Open titles, two previous Australian Open championships and deep runs at other majors over the last two seasons.

The match also reinforced the sense that women’s tennis on hard courts is being defined by a small group. Rybakina’s run to the title included wins over No. 2 Swiatek in the quarterfinals and No. 6 Jessica Pegula in the semifinals. She became only the fourth woman in the Open era of the Australian Open to beat both the world No. 1 and No. 2 at the same edition of the event.

From Moscow to Melbourne

Born in Moscow, Rybakina switched allegiance to Kazakhstan in 2018 after receiving financial and developmental support from that country’s tennis federation. She became Kazakhstan’s first major singles champion at Wimbledon in 2022 and is now its first Australian Open singles winner.

“I want to say thank you to you guys, to everyone who was supporting me,” she told the crowd, turning to a small pocket of fans in Kazakh colors. “Thank you so much to Kazakhstan. I felt the support from that corner a lot. It’s really a Happy Slam, and I always enjoy coming here and playing in front of you.”

Her rise has not been entirely smooth. In early 2025, coach Stefano Vukov was suspended amid criticism of his courtside behavior, including accusations of verbal abuse. The pair later resumed their partnership. Rybakina has repeatedly emphasized the stability of her team, saying this fortnight that they have “been together since 2019” and that their work helped her return to the level of Sabalenka and Swiatek.

That level has been apparent for months. Rybakina closed 2025 by winning the WTA Finals and arrived in Melbourne on a 20-1 run, including a perfect record against top-10 opponents over that span. At this tournament she did not drop a set until the final.

Sabalenka’s Melbourne streak, and setback

For Sabalenka, the loss marked her second consecutive runner-up finish in Melbourne, following a defeat to Madison Keys in last year’s final. She remains the only woman since Martina Hingis to reach four straight Australian Open finals, underscoring a consistency few of her peers can match.

Her overall record in major finals now stands at four titles and four losses, with back-to-back U.S. Open trophies in 2024 and 2025, and an appearance in the 2025 French Open final.

The pattern of her defeats — tight losses after building leads or holding chances late in matches — has drawn attention to the mental side of her game. Sabalenka has worked extensively with sports psychologists, and for most of this Australian Open she appeared controlled and in command.

Against Rybakina, the margins narrowed again. After the match, Sabalenka focused on the positives of another deep run.

“I love this tournament, I love playing in front of you all,” she told the crowd. “I will keep fighting and hopefully I can come back stronger.”

Money, stakes and what comes next

Rybakina’s title came with a check for 4.15 million Australian dollars, about $2.8 million, from a record tournament prize pool of A$111.5 million. Sabalenka earned A$2.15 million as runner-up. Organizers increased total prize money by 16% this year, part of an ongoing effort to boost earnings across the draw, including for early-round losers and qualifiers.

Beyond the finances, the victory solidified Rybakina’s place in a small group of active multiple major champions on the women’s tour and set up a compelling narrative for the rest of 2026. Sabalenka remains the statistical leader and the current No. 1. Swiatek continues to dominate on clay and contend everywhere. Rybakina has now beaten both in consecutive matches at a Grand Slam.

She left Rod Laver Arena on Saturday with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup cradled in one arm and few outward signs of emotion. The calm was familiar; the implications were not. This time on Melbourne’s biggest stage, it was Rybakina, not Sabalenka, who controlled the final plot twist — and their rivalry, and the season, look different because of it.