Elena Rybakina absolutely outplayed Aryna Sabalenka in the 2024 Brisbane International final to win her first title of the season.
It was a highly-anticipated final between the two highest-seeded players at the WTA 500 tournament in Brisbane. They were both in a great form prior to the match, beating their opponents without much troubles.
Both were yet to lose a set in Brisbane and even though Sabalenka downplayed the importance of the match before it started, as she wanted to focus on the Australian Open, it was clear that she wanted to win.
That became obvious with every rally played because, shockingly, her opponent just kept outplaying her over and over and over again. Of course, the fact that Rybakina was able to beat Sabalenka was not surprising, but the way in which she did it was.
Previously, the two have met seven times in official matches, and in some more exhibitions, and it was the Belarusian who won five of those seven matches.
But in this match, her opponent just seemed to be better in every aspect. In the first set of the match, Rybakina kept applying pressure on her opponent's serve, and Sabalenka kept having troubles, as she lost all of her serves in the opening set.
On top of that, the Kazakhstani lost only one point in her first two service games, and despite minor struggles in her third service game of the set, she won that too without facing any break points, and shockingly, after only 25 minutes, she won the first set 6-0, the first time this happened in an official match between the two.
In the second set, Rybakina started with a break again, but this time around, Sabalenka found an answer to make it 1-2, but requested medical time out afterwards, as she seemed to be struggling with some physical issues.
Immediately after that, Rybakina broke her opponent's serve again, and from there it looked more like what fans expected to see. Both players held their serve comfortably, but thanks to Rybakina's one-break advantage, she won the match 6-0, 6-3 to win the 2024 Brisbane International, her first title of the season.
As a result, she will improve to the third place in the WTA Rankings, overtaking Coco Gauff, who played a WTA 250 tournament in Auckland, which didn't offer as many points as the WTA 500 even in Brisbane.
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