Elena Rybakina wins Australian Open: Second Grand Slam for the Kazakh to join the list of winners led by Margaret Smith Court and Serena Williams

Kazakh tennis star Elena Rybakina (No. 5) won the Australian Open. Coolness at key moments ultimately felled the volcanic and heavily favored Aryna Sabalenka (No. 1) in the final on Saturday in Melbourne.

Rybakina, 26, won her second Grand Slam title by beating Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, according to AFP. The Kazakh proved to be the most in-form player in recent months, having already won the WTA Masters (the tournament that brings together the best players of the season) at the end of last year.

She also won Wimbledon in 2022, but since then she had only played one other Grand Slam final, in 2023 in Melbourne, where she lost to Sabalenka.

Rybakina reacts in time

The first set was very evenly matched and ultimately went to Rybakina, who capitalized of one of the two chances she had to break her opponent's serve.

This break came in the first game of the match, and with it Rybakina put more pressure on Sabalenka, who had two chances to level the match in the eighth game, but the Kazakh saved them and kept the advantage to put the first set on her scoreboard.

The dynamics of the match could have changed in the second game of the second set, when Sabalenka had three more break points that she again wasted.

Rybakina seemed infallible, and equality was maintained throughout the second set, a dangerous scenario for Sabalenka, but the Belarusian finally managed to break in the tenth game and took the match to the third and final set.

Rybakina felt the blow and was 3-0 down in the third set, but when it seemed that Sabalenka was close to the title, the world No. 1 was haunted by the ghosts of last year's Australian and French Open finals.

Showing great mental toughness, the ATP No. 5 won the next five games to take the initiative again and not let the title slip away.

Last Australian Open winners

These are all the winners in the 21st century of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the tennis season: