MELBOURNE, Australia — Elena Rybakina pulled off the feat of feats Saturday night in Melbourne. Yes, she won the 2026 Australian Open, the second major singles title of her career, vaulting herself into the Hall of Fame in the process. But in addition to that, she passed one of the sternest tests in tennis, outbattling one of the sport’s great battlers, outstriking one of the sport’s great strikers, outserving a formidable server, and beating Sabalenka 6–4, 4–6, 6–4 in a crackling final.
Rybakina doesn’t always give you much. Not much public emotion, not many quotes and not many gestures. Even the broadcasters refer to her as the “Ice Queen” and the “Quiet Champion.” More importantly, she doesn’t give the opponent much opportunity. Her serve might be the most fearsome weapon in all of women’s tennis, but her game goes beyond that. She leathers forehands and backhands, and though she stands at 6′ 0,” she moves gracefully and doesn’t get enough credit for her defense.
In the Australian Open final, she brought the full force of her game to bear early, breaking Sabalenka to start the match (a rematch of the 2023 final). As was the case three years ago, she won the first set 6–4. Again mirroring ’23, Sabalenka stormed back, the personification of the tiger tattoo adorning her arm. She won the second set with a barrage of power, but also with precision. She took a 3–0 lead in the third set, as Rybakina seemed to be fading, still stinging from the missed opportunity. There stood Sabalenka smiling, possessing all the moment, looking to take her fifth major title, and her third Australian Open title, in the past three years. But then the record scratched. It came out of nowhere but was full of impact. Portraying no emotion and no gesticulating outside of a confident fist pump, Rybakina constructed points, served bombs and took advantage of a level slip by her opponent. Up 5–4 in the biggest serving game of her career, she stepped up to the line and kaboom. She was back in the winners’ circle four years after winning Wimbledon, her big breakthrough.
ELENA RYBAKINA IS AN AUSTRALIAN OPEN CHAMPION 🏆
The No.5 seed defeats Aryna Sabalenka in an enthralling three-set encounter in Melbourne 👏 @wwos • @espn • @tntsports • @wowowtennis • #AO26 pic.twitter.com/iWAAHFZFHR
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 31, 2026
At age 26, Rybakina still has plenty of good tennis left in her. It would also be remiss not to note that her level of play has improved dramatically over the past few months, as her coach, Stefano Vukov, is no longer suspended.
Sabalenka presents a trickier proposition. Early in her career, she was known for her mercurial results. Lately, she’s become a model of consistency. She’s reached the final in five of the past six majors. But she’s also becoming a familiar runner-up. In the past 12 months, she’s lost three major finals, exceedingly winnable matches each. It’s hardly a crisis, she continues as the world’s No. 1 player, but there is an issue here. As for Rybakina, she presents another problem. In a sneaky good rivalry, she has now beaten Sabalenka twice in a row, both high-profile matches.
While the nation she represents, Kazakhstan, and the low profile she chooses to maintain might mute the hype and make her little known to casual sports fans, within the WTA, Rybakina has emerged as a player of the moment, maybe the player of the moment.
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