History has been made as Aryna Sabalenka wins the coveted Women’s singles title at the Australian Open tennis tournament.
The 24-year-old Belarusian player pushed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan to three sets to capture her first Grand Slam singles title.
To get to the winning form, she overcame a history of buckling under the pressure of late-round Grand Slam tennis. The powerful 24-year-old from Belarus, came from behind to beat Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the women’s singles final of the Australian Open on Saturday.
In a matchup of two of the biggest hitters in the sport, Sabalenka was a little more fearless and a few clicks more clinical than Rybakina in the crucial moments to cap off a dominant summer of tennis in Australia. It was Sabalenka’s first Grand Slam title in a rocky career that has included the kind of error-ridden, big-moment meltdowns from which some players almost never recover.
Instead, the match proved a microcosm of Sabalenka’s career — a shaky start, filled with ill-timed double faults followed by a steadying middle match recovery before a final-set display of raw power and precision that her opponent could not answer.
Sabalenka had last year fired her sports psychologist, deciding that if she was going to exorcise the demons of all those losses, she was going to have to do it on her own.
“It’s just the best day of my life right now,” she would say later.
Holding the championship trophy on a stage a few minutes later, Sabalenka turned to her coaches and thanked them for sticking with her on an emotional ride to this first Grand Slam title.
