It was a blink-and-you-missed-it situation. Blink, and you missed Elina Rybakina crumbling from one set and 4–4 up to one set all and 3–0 down. Then blink, and you missed Aryna Sabalenka collapsing from 3–0 up in that third set to lose a second Australian Open final in a row and so a third Grand Slam final in the last four she played. Blink, and you also missed Stefano Vukov, Rybakina’s coach, who was banned for a year, being celebrated during the trophy ceremony. 

In that remake of the 2023 Australian Open final, Rybakina ended up getting revenge on Sabalenka in a three-setter in which neither player played their best at the same time, resulting in an error-laden performance. Both being in the same lane of “everything you hit, I can hit it harder” kind of tennis, you knew you wouldn’t get a lot of rallies. But in 2023, their final had also shown that “go big or go home tennis” could find its own version of being both entertaining and steady. This time, not so much.

Yet the third set’s drama made up for the up-and-down nature of that final. It was tough to imagine Rybakina adding a second Grand Slam title to her résumé after Wimbledon 2022, when she started to spread unforced errors all over that Rod Laver Arena as Sabalenka seemed to sprint toward a fifth Grand Slam title. The world No.1 was proving how many more options she had built into her game against an opponent whose A game is lethal, as seen in a flawless first set, but left on its own when things go south. But Rybakina showed more guts in the money time, banking on her ability to go for her shots. And it delivered: The backhand down the line started to fire up again, the forehand-to-forehand battle turned in her favor, and that service came clutch at last. Rybakina’s forever-cool face won against Sabalenka’s forever-on-the-edge look. 

Rybakina confirms the feeling of the end of 2025 when she beat Sabalenka already to clinch the WTA Finals title: She’s getting that groove back and has learned consistency since 2022. The new Australian Open champion became the first female player since Naomi Osaka in 2019 to go all the way after beating three top 10 players (Swiatek, Svitolina, Sabalenka). “They’re tough opponents, have great results, and for so long they have been at the top and stable,” Rybakina said. “I’m happy that now I’m getting back to this level, and hopefully I can be stable again throughout the whole season and keep on showing great tennis, good results. It’s a lot of tough matches I had here. Yeah, I’m glad I could manage to take the opportunities I had and win in the end.”

Is she a different player today? No. Has she improved her game in the same vein as Sabalenka? Absolutely not. Is she still the biggest hitter on that tour with an unmatched ability to hit winners from anywhere on the court? Totally. Is she getting closer to perfecting her game style enough to deliver it without a glitch in the biggest events? A resounding yes. With now 38 wins, she owns the most victories on tour since the end of Wimbledon. She can get unplayable, and it’s always mostly going to depend on her, which wasn’t a situation suited to her victim of the day. 

It’s impossible not to think that Sabalenka’s 2025 ghosts came back to haunt her when she was on serve at 3–1 and then 3–3 in that third set. She had done everything right to get her hand on that final, and yet it derailed again. She couldn’t find a first serve (52 percent in that set), then rushed the rest and missed, so that in no time she had lost five games in a row, left aghast as, after Melbourne and Roland-Garros 2025, another Grand Slam final was slipping through her fingers. “It was really aggressive tennis, and in that moment she had nothing to lose, so she stepped in, and she played incredible points,” Sabalenka said. “Maybe I should have tried to be more aggressive on my serve, knowing I had a break and could put pressure on her, but she played incredibly. She made some winners. I made a couple of unforced errors. Of course, I have regrets. When you lead 3–love, and then it felt like in a few seconds it was 3–4…great tennis from her. Maybe not so smart for me. Today I’m a loser, maybe tomorrow I’m a winner, maybe again a loser. Hopefully not.”

Sabalenka has been the best player in the world by far for the past two years, but under the highest pressure in the biggest tournament, there’s this glitch that can land at any time. “I was really upset with myself, because once again, I had opportunities. But I feel like I played great. I was fighting. I did my best, and today she was a better player…. But level-wise and in the decisions I was making and my mentality, I think I made huge improvements and that I’m moving towards the right direction.”

Put in the same pressure cooker, Rybakina and her ice-cold demeanor have now won two majors out of three chances, and that cannot be a coincidence. Back on the wall, she figures out how to summon her A game, and that’s what Sabalenka figured out at the US Open but still can’t do on demand. After taking down both Swiatek and Sabalenka here, on the heels of that great end of 2025, Rybakina’s confidence is going to rise at a very dangerous high for the rest of the field. “I always believed that I could come back to the level I was. I think everyone thought I would never be in the final or even get a trophy again, but it’s all about the work. Of course, when you’re getting after some big wins against the top players, then you start to believe more and get more confident.” Warning received.