Sabalenka wins first Grand Slam title in tense final

Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka (left) holding her maiden grand slam trophy with runner-up, Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina after defeating the latter in a tense final on Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Park, yesterday

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Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus defeated Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 4/6; 63; 6/4 to clinch her maiden Grand Slam title. It was her fourth straight career victory over her opponent on the Women’s Tennis Association Tour. Aryna had also won the warm-up tournament in Adelaide earlier this month.

The match was a battle of serves. In the first set, each player held serve quickly. Sabalenka raced to 40-0 in the third game but was taken to deuce before conceding a crucial break. Elena held serve to consolidate and take the sixth game for a 4-2 lead. Sabalenka delivered one of her 24 aces of the match to reduce the tally in the seventh game and broke Elena’s serve to level four all. However, the Belarusian committed consecutive double faults to trail 0-30 and eventually lost the ninth game. Elena served out the set at love. It was the first time Elena took the first set in their encounters.

The second set featured long games. Although Sabalenka opened with an ace, she trailed 15-40 and held serve after a deuce. In the same way, Rybakina was stretched before leveling 1 all. Aryna clinched the first break of the set in the fourth game and delivered her ninth ace to lead 4-1. She marched ahead 5-2 with a succession of service winners while Elena struggled to hold the eighth game. Serving at 30-all in the ninth game, Sabalenka made two aces to claim the set 6/4. Rybakina won the first game of the third set and Sabalenka Rybakina committed her first (only) double fault to 30-40 but she