What we witnessed at the 2023 Australian Open final between Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka was nothing short of one word: brilliant.
Two big servers and absolutely unreal ball striking created a final we won’t soon forget.
Aryna Sabalenka was one of the pre-tournament favorites, along with a slew of others. When it comes to Elena Rybakina, she wasn’t a name that was often mentioned by the likes of the other top contenders.
Despite winning Wimbledon just months prior, Rybakina wasn’t a name that came to people’s minds on making it to the final down in Melbourne. When the first ball was struck in the women’s final, one player, Rybakina, was seeking her second major title.
Another player, Sabalenka, was seeking her first.
The serving issues for Aryna Sabalenka in 2022 are well documented. Four hundred and twenty-eight double faults during last year’s season.
With Sabalenka playing against a player who serves as well as Rybakina, she would have to be on her serving game more than she ever has. Sabalenka entered the 2023 Australian Open undefeated at 4-0, winning a tune-up tournament in Adelaide before heading to Melbourne.
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Was Sabalenka one of the pre-tournament favorites? Yes, but she looked to be behind some stronger contenders: Swiatek, Gauff, Pegula, and Garcia just to name a few.
Sabalenka has been knocking on the door the last couple of years, making major semifinals but never making it to that final contest.
When Aryna Sabalenka took the court in her fourth-round match against Belinda Bencic, it looked to be her first true test of the tournament.
Bencic, an Olympic Gold Medalist, played incredible tennis in the lead-up tournaments and looked to make a deep run herself.
Sabalenka and Bencic battled it out, and it led to a 7-5 first-set victory for Sabalenka. The second set wasn’t as taxing for Sabalenka. It was a 6-2 set, straight sets victory for the player from Belarus.
That was the first match people started to believe Sabalenka could potentially win the tournament. The quarterfinals against Donna Vekic would be Sabalenka’s toughest test.
The reason why is that in the head-to-head matchup between the two, Vekic had a 5-1 edge. Most of their matches had been close, but in this matchup, the double faults would plague Vekic, not Sabalenka.
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Vekic had 13 double faults in a straight-set victory for Sabalenka. Another turning point for Sabalenka, was facing an opponent she did not have a great record against, but she was able to get through without much issue.
Her semifinal matchup against Magda Linette was the most surprising match Sabalenka had in this tournament. Linette, who had never made it past the third round at a major, was not exactly the opponent Sabalenka expected to see across the net that day.
A first-set battle ultimately led to a first-set tiebreaker, however, Sabalenka played a fantastic tiebreak and won 7-1 in the breaker. In the second, Sabalenka took over and won the set 6-2.
Sabalenka had made her first major final, not to mention got there without dropping a set. Not only did she have a chance to win her first Grand Slam, but she was doing it with such efficiency.
In the final, she would meet Wimbledon Champion, Elena Rybakina.
Just looking at the matchup on paper, it seemed to be the toughest match Sabalenka would face.
The thing that was different about Sabalenka in this tournament was that she believed from opening ball that she could win this.
While she had believed, she still had to execute her game plan of serving big and minimizing mistakes.
That did not occur in the first set as the double fault issues came back in the worst way. Sabalenka had five double faults in the opening set, including double-faulting to get broken at 4-4.
With Sabalenka down a set to a player that had experience in a major final, she would need a reset.
With big hitting from both players, this match kept those watching on the edge of their seats.
Sabalenka was able to rebound and take set number two, taking this to a decisive third set.
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As the match progressed early in the third, it became apparent that the player who would break first would win.
Rybakina stepped to the line to serve at 3-3 and as it had been all evening long, it was a back-and-forth game.
Ultimately, it was Rybakina who would blink first and Sabalenka broke to go up 4-3. Rybakina held serve at 3-5 and then at 5-4, while Sabalenka would step to the line and serve for the biggest title of her career.
Sabalenka at 40-30 had her first championship point and what happened next seemed to be a moment that Sabalenka needed to experience in this service game: she double-faulted.
I say that because last year, with all the issues Sabalenka experienced with her serve, she needed to overcome this.
For her to overcome it last night was the culmination of all that hard work and determination Sabalenka had put in.
With a forehand from Rybakina that would sail long, Aryna Sabalenka had won The Australian Open.
She had only dropped one set in the entire tournament and moved to 11-0 on the season. In the battle of big servers, Sabalenka was just a little bit bigger.
Sabalenka finished with 51 winners and 17 aces in an absolute classic of a final.
Now that the trophy has been engraved with the name Aryna Sabalenka, where does the women’s game go from here?
With Paris looming, you would expect Swiatek to be the odds-on favorite, but if this Australian Open has taught us anything, sometimes the odds aren’t always in your favor.