Aryna Sabalenka will bid for a 3rd Australian Open trophy in 4 years when the Belarusian collides with fellow power-hitter Elena Rybakina in a heavyweight rematch of their title showdown three years in the past.

The dynamics have shifted since Sabalenka’s breakthrough win in 2023, the 27-year-old now the clear favorite following three extra Grand Slam triumphs and Rybakina but to win one other main after her 2022 Wimbledon success.

The pair know one another effectively, having met 14 instances on tour, with Sabalenka holding a slender edge in a rivalry marked by bruising baseline battles and momentum swings.

However the high seed mentioned historical past would rely for little on Rod Laver Enviornment.

“We each are completely different gamers,” Sabalenka mentioned.

“We went via various things and we’re a lot stronger psychological and bodily. We’re taking part in higher tennis now. So I am going to strategy this as utterly completely different match.

“We have now lengthy historical past after that remaining. I am going to strategy this match because the very first one and I’ll do my easiest.”

Victory would give Sabalenka her fifth Grand Slam title, drawing her stage with Martina Hingis and Maria Sharapova and cementing her place among the many most profitable gamers of the fashionable period.

Russian-born Kazakh Rybakina holds the current bragging rights, having defeated Sabalenka within the WTA Finals title match on the finish of 2025.

The fifth seed mentioned she was banking on that have to get her over the road at Melbourne Park.

“After all, a few years have handed and a variety of matches have been performed,” Rybakina mentioned.

“Hopefully all of the expertise I bought from the final match, and the final remaining that I performed right here, I can deliver it to Saturday’s match and do my finest.

“Since we’re each very aggressive gamers the serve will probably be essential. I am going to struggle until the top, and hopefully this time it may go my method.”

However the 2023 AO remaining between the pair, through which Sabalenka fought again from a set down to assert the primary of her 4 main crowns up to now, stands out.

“It was very shut. All through the match, in fact, I had some little alternatives however ultimately of this third set I believe Aryna stepped in,” Rybakina mentioned.

“She served significantly better. Yeah, she deserved that win.”

Melbourne has been particularly type to Sabalenka.

She has received 26 of her final 27 matches on the yr’s first Grand Slam along with her solely defeat coming towards Madison Keys within the 2025 remaining, which denied her a Melbourne Park “three-peat”.

Sabalenka’s sport is tailored for the quick, blue hardcourts which have rewarded her heavy first serve and flat groundstrokes, and she or he has not dropped a set en path to the ultimate this yr.

Rybakina has been simply as environment friendly, marking the primary time that each Australian Open girls’s finalists have reached the decider with out surrendering a set since Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters in 2004.

Whereas Sabalenka breezed previous Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-3 within the semi-finals, Rybakina needed to battle towards Jessica Pegula to earn a 6-3, 7-6(9/7) win and maintain her document intact.

The 2022 All England Membership champion has been in blistering kind because the latter levels of final yr, piecing collectively 13 wins from her final 14 matches and sustaining a stage of consistency that has made her a menace.

Wires