Sabalenka vs Rybakina start time and how to watch the Australian Open final

Sabalenka easily dispatched three other seeds heading into Saturday’s showdown, beating breakout star Victoria Mboko, American Iva Jovic and Elina Svitolina in her last three matches.

Rybakina, meanwhile, defeated second seed Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals and defeated the six-time Grand Slam champion before defeating Jessica Pegula in a closely fought last four match on Thursday.

The pair’s first match since Rybakina defeated her Belarusian opponent in the final of the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in November, with a 6-3, 7-6(0) win.

Since then, Sabalenka has claimed the Brisbane title ahead of the year’s first major tournament, again not dropping a set, while Rybakina was shocked by former French Open finalist Karolina Muchova in the quarter-finals.

She ended 2025 by playing in the controversial ‘Battle of the Sexes’ match in Dubai, where she was defeated by Nick Kyrgios.

Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, wants to prevent Sabalenka from claiming a hat-trick of titles Down Under and foiling the top seed’s plans to make amends for her final defeat to Madison Keys last year.