Australian Open, Elena Rybakina surprise queen: Aryna Sabalenka collapses at the most beautiful moment

Elena Rybakina has won the 2026 edition of the Australian Open: the Kazakh tennis player defeated, in the final act of the women&#8217s tournament, world number one Aryna Sabalenka, who for the second year in a row has to surrender right in the final. For Rybakina this is her first ever success in Melbourne since the final she lost, in 2023, to Sabalenka herself.The match played this morning at Rod Laver Arena ended 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and lasted two hours and eighteen minutes, with a third set that was nothing short of sensational.

Rybakina got off to a strong start and went ahead by a break at the start of the first set.

Sabalenka tried to fight back, even had a couple of useful break points to take a 4-4 lead but did not exploit them, so her Kazakh opponent found a way to escape the ranking leader&#8217s pursuit and brought home the first fraction after thirty-eight minutes. The second set, on the other hand, is characterized by continuous back-and-forth: until 5-4, the two tennis players win all the games on their own serve, Sabalenka places the break that allows her to tie just in the tenth and last game.

Francesco Lucivero

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The decisive third set starts with three games won consecutively by Sabalenka, who thus seems to be flying towards her third success in Melbourne: from there on, however, Rybakina’s comeback is furious, as she posts a five-game winning streak to zero, with the Belarusian unable to react except, timidly, in the ninth game, leading 4-5. The’last game saw Rybakina earn match point at 40-30: the opportunity was great and on the next serve came the point that closed the tournament for good.

For Elena Rybakina, class of 1999, born in Moscow but naturalized as an athlete from Kazakhstan, this is the second Grand Slam tournament won in her career, after Wimbledon 2022 (comeback victory, on that occasion, against Ons Jabeur). Sabalenka, on the other hand, is on her second straight loss in the final, following last year’s loss to Jessica Pegula.

Closing the women&#8217s tournament, the Australian Open will go on to close on Sunday with the men&#8217s final: contending for the first Slam of the season will be world number one Carlos Alcaraz, who got the better of Alexander Zverev in the semifinals, and the very veteran Novak Djokovic, who instead beat the Italian Jannik Sinner.