BRISBANE, Australia – Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka captured her second consecutive Brisbane International title and 22nd overall on Sunday with a straight-sets win over Marta Kostyuk.
It was the third year in a row that Sabalanka had appeared in the final and the Belarusian looked in comfortable surroundings as she secured a 6-4, 6-3 victory in just 1 hour and 17 minutes at the Pat Rafter Arena.
The Brisbane International is a tune-up event for this year’s Australian Open, which starts on January 18.
Kostyuk went hard early, attacking Sabalenka’s second serve and clawed back an early break with sublime drop shots that briefly rattled the world’s best player.
However, Sabalanka’s ruthless intensity and match smarts proved decisive as she exploited Brisbane’s oppressive humidity with punishing grassroots rallies to take the opening set inside 40 minutes.
While Kostyuk sank under the physical strain, Sabalenka accelerated in the second set.
With a mix of pinpoint groundstrokes and deceptive drop shots, she forced an increasing number of errors from the Ukrainian to close out the match without dropping a set all week.
After sealing the victory, Sabalenka looked down the field at Kostyuk and kissed both biceps – a likely nod to the Ukrainian’s previous comments that she possessed higher testosterone levels than other players.
Kostyuk has said comments made in an interview last year were taken out of context, but tensions between the two have increased since the Ukrainian’s refusal to shake Sabalenka’s hand after a match at the 2023 French Open.
The exchange resulted in a frosty post-match presentation. During the trophy ceremony, Kostyuk spoke passionately about her home country, but specifically declined to mention Sabalenka by name.
“I want to say a few words about Ukraine,” Kostyuk said. “I play every day with pain in my heart. There are thousands of people who are currently without light and hot water, it is currently minus 20 degrees outside, so it is very painful to live in this reality every day.
“I was incredibly touched and happy to see so many Ukrainian fans and flags here this week… Slava Ukraini.”
Sabalenka, meanwhile, congratulated Kostyuk and said she hoped they would meet in another final soon. She also made a cheeky comment about her boyfriend, Georgios Frangulis, during her victory speech.
“Hopefully I’ll call you some other way soon,” Sabalenka said, looking at Frangulis in the players’ box. “That just added pressure, right?”
Later, Daniil Medvedev won his 22nd title after edging past Brandon Nakashima 6-2, 7-6 (1).
The former No. 1 Russian player defeated his American opponent with a dominant tiebreak in the second set, claiming the first five points to win the match in 1 hour and 34 minutes.
#Sabalenka #wins #Brisbane #Kostyuk #tensions