BRISBANE, Australia — World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka received her second consecutive Brisbane Worldwide title and twenty second general with a straight-sets win over Marta Kostyuk on Sunday.
It was Sabalanka’s third consecutive look within the ultimate, and the Belarusian seemed snug with a 6-4, 6-3 victory in simply 1 hour and 17 minutes at Pat Rafter Enviornment.
The Brisbane Worldwide is a preparation occasion for this yr’s Australian Open, which begins on January 18th.
Kostyuk attacked Sabalenka’s second serve from the beginning, regaining an early break with a elegant drop shot that briefly shocked the world’s top-ranked participant.
However the Belarusian’s relentless depth and sport smarts proved decisive, making the most of Brisbane’s humid humidity to mount a tricky baseline rally and take the primary set in 40 minutes.
Sabalenka accelerated within the second set as Kostyuk wilted below the bodily pressure.
She mixed raking groundstrokes with misleading drop photographs to extend the Ukrainian participant’s miscounts and completed the match with out dropping a set all week.
After clinching the victory, Sabalenka seemed down the courtroom and kissed Kostyuk’s biceps. This was most likely a nod to the Ukrainian’s earlier remark that she has greater testosterone ranges than different athletes.
Kostyuk mentioned his feedback in an interview final yr had been taken out of context, however tensions between the 2 have escalated because the Ukrainian refused to shake Sabalenka’s hand after their 2023 French Open match.
The alternate led to a frosty postgame presentation. Throughout the trophy ceremony, Kostyuk spoke passionately about his homeland, however refused to particularly point out Sabalenka by identify.
“I need to say just a few phrases about Ukraine,” Kostyuk mentioned. “I play every single day with ache in my coronary heart. There are millions of individuals proper now with out gentle or scorching water. It is -20 levels exterior proper now, so it’s totally, very laborious to dwell this actuality every single day.”
“It was very transferring and blissful to see so many Ukrainian followers and the nationwide flag right here this week… Slava Ukraine.”
In the meantime, Sabalenka congratulated Kostyuk and mentioned she hopes to satisfy him within the ultimate once more quickly. She additionally cheekily attacked her boyfriend Georgios Franglis throughout her victory speech.
“I believe I might wish to make one other name quickly,” Sabalenka mentioned, Franglis within the participant’s field. “That simply provides additional stress, doesn’t it?”
Daniil Medvedev then defeated Brandon Nakashima 6-2, 7-6 (1) to win his twenty second title.
The previous No. 1-ranked Russian participant defeated his American opponent in a commanding tie-break within the second set, successful the primary 5 factors and clinching the match in a single hour and 34 minutes.
