Sabalenka, seeded with the fifth number (WTA 5th), defeated Rybakina, who is ranked 25th in the WTA ranking, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Sabalenka celebrated the victory in her first “Grand Slam” tournament final. She had previously reached the semi-finals three times.
This was Sabalenka’s first lost set in 11 wins of the season this season.
17 elusive serves to her opponent’s nine helped her win, although seven double faults were committed to Rybakina’s one.
The neutral athlete ended 51 combinations with an elusive shot, while the opponent scored 31 times with such plays. In addition, the number of unforced errors for the winner was only slightly higher than that of the opponent (28:25).
Sabalenka managed to convert three out of 13 break points into points, but the athlete from Kazakhstan scored a point in two out of seven occasions.
Throughout the game, Sabalenka won 110 out of 213 hands.
Rybakina, who triumphed at Wimbledon last season to win her first Grand Slam trophy, had not advanced past the third round at the Australian Open until now.
It has already been reported that in the semi-finals, the 23-year-old Rybakina defeated neutral athlete Victoria Azarenka (WTA 24th), who won this tournament in 2012 and 2013, 7-4 (7:4), 6-3, while Sabalenka won 7-6 (7:1), defeated Polish Magda Lineti (WTA 45th) 6-2.
Ribakina reached the semi-finals by beating Latvia’s No. 1 player Aļona Ostapenko (WTA 17) in the quarter-finals 6-4, 6-2.
The first “Grand Slam” tournament of the 2023 season will be held in Melbourne on the hard surface until Sunday.
