Elena Rybakina WINS her first Australian Open title after three-set victory over Aryna Sabalenka

Elena Rybakina has got revenge over Aryna Sabalenka by winning the Australian Open title after a dramatic final.

In a repeat of the 2023 showpiece, which Sabalenka won, Rybakina triumphed this time a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 on Saturday.

The Kazakh’s victory is the more remarkable as she was trailing 3-0 in the final set before winning the next five games to turn the final on its head.

Sabalenka, who was searching for a fifth major, regained her composure to win the next game to make it 5-4 but Rybanka held her nerve to serve out the match with an ace and claim her second career major after her 2022 Wimbledon triumph.

The victory completes a magical fortnight in Melbourne for the 26-year-old who has now won her past 10 matches against fellow top-10 players and is the first player to claim the title by defeating three top-10 players in each round from the quarter-finals onwards since Naomi Osaka in 2019.

‘I want to congratulate Aryna for amazing results for a couple of years. I know it’s tough, I hope we are in many more finals together,’ she said during her on-court presentation.

‘The support [in the final] kept us going. Thank you to the Kazakhstan fans. I felt the support!’

More disappointment for Aryna Sabalenka

For Sabalenka, this is the Belarusian’s third defeat in a grand slam final in her past four – which included losses at the Australian Open last year as well as the French Open too.

She remains the world No 1 but has a bogey player in Rybakina – with her opponent winning seven of their past nine hardcourt encounters.

Speaking during her press conference, the 27-year-old said: ‘Great tennis from her. ‌Maybe not so smart for me but, as I say, today I’m a loser, maybe tomorrow I’m a winner, maybe again a loser. ​Hopefully not. We’ll see.

‘Even in this final I feel like I played great. I ​was fighting. I did my best, and today she was a better player,” she added.

‘So I don’t know. We’ll speak with the team. Now they try to avoid and escape me because they see that it’s not really healthy ‍to be around me right now.’