By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday January 6, 2024
Elena Rybakina stormed past Aryna Sabalenka in Brisbane, claiming her sixth career title in the process.
Photo Source: Getty
She came, she saw, she conquered.
Elena Rybakina played magnificent tennis from start to finish in Sunday’s Brisbane International final, snapping Aryna Sabalenka’s 15-match winning streak on Australian soil with a 6-0, 6-3 victory.
Rybakina improved to 3-5 lifetime against the woman who defeated her in last year’s Australian Open final, and claimed her sixth WTA title overall with a dominant first-strike performance.
Afterwards, Rybakina said the contest was much closer than the scoreline suggested.
"I think the score doesn't show the reality because all the games were quite tight, to be honest," she said. "Couple of moments maybe I was a bit luckier. 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."
The 2022 Wimbledon champion cracked seven aces and dropped just 14 points on serve. She also dominated on return, winning 28 of 52 return points and breaking Sabalenka’s serve five times from seven opportunities.
After claiming the first eight games of the match, Sabalenka made it close in the second set, but there wasn’t much she could do against high-flying Rybakina, who finished her title run with just 15 games dropped.
Australian Open champion Sabalenka jokingly blamed her team for the lopsided loss afterward.
“Congratulations to my team,” Sabalenka joked. “6-0, 6-3. That’s all your fault guys.
“Of course we should have finished this week differently but I think we showed some great tennis. Hopefully we’ll do better at the Australian Open."