Belarus stand up, your Queen is a Grand Slam Champion


By Neo Poho

Belarusian born Aryna Sabalenka is the 2023 Women's Australian Open Champion.

Sabalenka defeated Elena Rybakina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final at the Rod Laver Arena to capture her maiden grand slam title.

In a feisty final that took more than 3 hours on Saturday, Rybakina won the first set 6-4 to set the tone for the match.

However Sabalenka came back into the match during the second set as she started to serve up some bombs that Rybakina couldn't handle.

Sabalenka also took advantage of a couple of mistakes from the 22 year old and claimed the second set 6-3 to take the match into a decider.

With the third set being the decider both players really played with determination and hunger to win however with nerves also playing a huge role in the last set, mistakes were bound to happen.

The last mistake proved to be costly for Rybakina as she tried to keep Sabalenka's big serve only to go long just as she looks to have control of the rally and that was the decisive moment as the 24 year Sabalenka was crowned a Grand Slam champion.

Sabalenka who was an Australian Open winner in the doubles event in 2021 becomes just the 58th different woman to win a Grand Slam title in the open era.

Upon receiving her title, Sabalenka stated that she would like to have more grand slams finals with Rybakina, "Congratulations to Elena hopefully we will have more battles in the grand slams finals. Thanks to my team, we have been through a lot of ups and downs this year, you guys deserve this trophy more than I do. Thank you Everyone," Sabalenka said.

Article Tags

Tennis

Australian Open

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