Fifth seed Arina Sabalenka defeated Kazakhstan's Alina Rybakina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to win the Australian Open women's singles title,

Photo credited by @instagram/sabalenka_aryna

Which is the first Grand Slam of the year. This is Sabaleka's first Grand Slam title.

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With this win, Sabalenka has moved up to No. 2 in the WTA rankings, behind only Poland's Inga Saitek

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Due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, players from Russia and Belarus were playing as individual athletes at the Australian Open, and Sabalenka became the first neutral athlete to win a Grand Slam.

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Sabalenka has a better record against Rybakina. Sabalenka maintained her record and defeated Rybakina again.

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Sabalenka did not start as expected against Rybakina and the Russian-born Rybakina took a 3-1 lead in the first set

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But Rybakina succumbed to the pressure and could not maintain her momentum. Sabalenka took advantage to make it 4-4.

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Sabalenka took a 4-1 lead in the second set with sharp shots and sealed the match with the 11th and 12th ace in the third set.

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Sabalenka held a strong serve in the third set, but Rybakina also played some better shots on defense.

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Sabalenka then won a match point to lead 5-3 and take the third set to win the match.

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Arina Sabalenka: Thanks to this environment, last year has been very ups and downs, I hope. Will play even better tennis here next year

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