Finally Sabalenka! Rybakina comes back and wins the first Grand Slam of her career

The first time is never forgotten. One like this, then, let alone. Aryna Sabalenka is the new champion of the Australian Open in her first Grand Slam final, comeback winner over an Elena Rybakina who seemed to be on her way to her second major after Wimbledon 2022. The Belarusian was ravenous, able to fish her serve out of the box tools after he cheated on her in the first set. Rybakina, with the lead, watched her from the other side of the net with her usual calm as she showed her first cracks, but Sabalenka recomposed herself and played the last two film-like partials. She overcame the stage fear of the appointment with History and was lethal, with her tennis of muscles and fire, and ended up as the deserving winner of a spectacular final, played on a roller coaster and finished 4-6 6-3 6- 4 in 2 hours and 28′. About Her Her tears on the concrete of the Rod Laver Arena tell it better than any other words about her.

Thesis services

—

The first twist of the match comes in the third game. The game, it was known, would have few exchanges, all at supersonic speed, but the 7 aces in the space of a handful of minutes even exceeded expectations. In the wake of these statistics Sabalenka (number 5 WTA) takes up 40-0, but there she begins to rediscover the specter of double faults, which she seemed to have finally managed to chase away in this tournament. The second launches Rybakina (n.25) towards recovery and the first break. The fifth (out of 12 second plays), later, will cause her to lose another turn at bat, sending her opponent to serve for the set. Rybakina also had a break recovered in the eighth game, but in the zen state in which she finds herself in the first set she forgets it as if it never happened. Sabalenka already knew that the opponent was strong, but the coldness she saw on the other side of the net as she began to show her first cracks is the hardest blow she could take. Rybakina goes to serve and closes a set decided by the serve: 6-4. It is the first that Sabalenka yields in all of 2023.

Sabalenka reaction

—

The match is not that far away. Shots are few, so you walk the fine balance between mistakes and explosive winners. A few centimeters in, a few centimeters out. The grip uncertain or firm on the handle. From the start of the second set, Sabalenka walks this fine line looser. She cancels two breaks to Rybakina, then finds one in the fourth game. It’s her chance, a booty to keep in the bank at all costs. The defense of the lead in the following game, which lasted 11 points, borders on heroism and charges it again. Her pressure remains high and Rybakina suffers more and more, she clings to her first but her opponent asks her for overtime on her service games. She cancels a set point with an ace at 194 km/h, the second with a great backhand down the line. The third set point for Sabalenka arrives at 5-3, she closes it with an ace from second. The serve came back before it was too late and it was decisive to return to parity, in the game and in the score: you go to third.

Unstoppable

—

Rybakina started to mess up more, Sabalenka took her down that path. And there she wants her to stay. In the first service game of the decisive set she goes 40-0, the Belarusian lets her play three more points. It’s not a detail, actually it’s a clue: the situation will continue to repeat itself throughout the third set. Sabalenka’s stage fright has been diluted, now they talk to each other. Indeed, it is the Belarusian who roars the loudest. She takes more risks, they pay off, she has more energy, her shots sound like shots in the silence of the Rod Laver Arena. Rybakina doesn’t play badly, she puts a lot of effort into defense, but she’s on the ropes. The fourth break point is what she converts in the seventh game, in the eighth her service takes her out of thorny situations. At 5-4 the tension plays tricks on her: a double fault takes away her first match point, a forehand that runs away cancels the second, a backhand along the third. It takes Rybakina’s mistake for her to do well on the fourth. She throws herself on the ground, in tears, the only possible reaction to a beautiful final, but played out on a roller coaster. On Monday she will be number 2 in the world, but in the meantime she is a Grand Slam champion today. Entry into the club is well deserved.