The second-seeded Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) won the title of the WTA 500 Brisbane International with a prize pool of 1,736,763 USD.
Elena Rybakina defeated the top-seeded and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) by 2-0 (6:0, 6:3) in 1:10 hours of play. Thus, Aryna Sabalenka’s streak of 15 consecutive victories in Australia was interrupted.
Elena Rybakina was more than decisive in the first set and reached 6:0 in her favor, which took only 25 minutes.
Aryna Sabalenka again failed to perform better play in the second set, but still after a weak start she tried to get back into the match, which in the end did not work.
“I’d like to say congrats Aryna for a great week and great season last year and hopefully we meet in Melbourne”, said Elena Rybakina after the match. “Despite the score, it’s always tough to play against you, we always push each other”, added she.
The Belarusian world No 2, who now leads their head-to-head 5-3, could only laugh amid the onslaught though.
“I don’t know where to start… that was an interesting match, great job, thank you for those three games to at least make it look like a fight”, laughed Aryna Sabalenka at the post-match. “Couple of words to my team: you did a bad job today – 6-0, 6-3, that’s all your fault guys. It is how it is. We showed some great tennis and hopefully we’ll do better at the Australian Open. I just wanted you (the crowd) to save your energy for the men’s final”, added she.
