Elena Rybakina is the ninth woman to be crowned a WTA singles champion in Brisbane, with the world No.4 completing her flawless campaign against Aryna Sabalenka in the 2024 final.
It was a sixth title for the world No.4 from Ka-zakhstan, a third on a hard court and her second in Australia, after Rybakina lifted the Hobart trophy in 2020.
With her 6-0 6-3 victory over the reigning Australian Open champion, Rybakina ended Sa-balenka’s remarkable win streak in Australia at 15 matches.
Entering the Brisbane final trailing their head-to-head record 2-5, she also turned the tables on their recent history.
Among seven previous match wins against the two Grand Slam champions – Rybakina having won her maiden major at Wimbledon 2022, and Sabalenka doing so in Melbourne last summer – five matches had extended to three sets.
This included a breathtaking Australian Open final in 2023, with spanned for two hours and 27 minutes before Sabalenka’s memorable triumph.
Their Brisbane final between the tournament top seeds would prove a far different contest, with a potently efficient Rybakina running away with the first set in just 24 minutes.
It took until the second game of the second set for Sabalenka to register on the scoreboard, but as Rybakina combined her stunning touch with con-trolled power and her trademark composure it wasn’t enough to stop the Kazakhstani’s near-perfect victory.
Rybakina, who has dropped just 10 games at the Queensland International Tennis Centre entering the final, was simply flawless against the No.1 seed, as she completed her victory in an hour and 13 minutes.
“I think the score doesn’t show the reality be-cause all the games were quite tight, to be honest. Couple of moments maybe I was a bit luckier,” said a gracious Rybakina.
“I knew that no matter the score, is going to be still difficult in the second set. It was just few moments again where it could turn other way around … In the end, I think it was still not as easy as it might look from outside.”—APP
