Sports
Aryna Sabalenka defeats Elena Rybakina for Aussie Open title
MELBOURNE, Australia —The serves were big. So big. Other shots too. The points were over quickly. So quickly, including aces on seven of the first 13.And so it was immediately apparent in the Australian Open women’s final between Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina that the player who could manage to keep her serve in line, get a read on returns and remain steady at the tightest moments would emerge victorious.
That turned out to be Sabalenka, a 24-year-old from Belarus, who won her first Grand Slam title by coming back to beat Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at Melbourne Park on Saturday night, using 17 aces among her 51 total winners to overcome seven double faults.
It was telling that Sabalenka’s remarks during the postmatch ceremony were directed at her coach, Anton Dubrov, and her fitness trainer, Jason Stacy. She referred to them as “the craziest team on tour, I would say.”
“We’ve been through a lot of, I would say, downs last year,” said Sabalenka, who was appearing in her first major final. “We worked so hard, and you guys deserve this trophy. It’s more about you than it’s about me.”
Now 11-0 in 2023 with two titles, Sabalenka is a powerful player whose most glowing strength was also her most glaring shortfall: her serve. Long capable of hammering aces, she also had a well-known problem with double-faulting, leading the tour in that category last year with nearly 400, including more than 20 apiece in some matches.
After much prodding from her group, she finally agreed to undergo an overhaul of her serving mechanics in August. That, along with a commitment to trying to stay calm in the most high-pressure moments, is paying off now.
The only set she has dropped all season was the opener Saturday against Rybakina, who eliminated No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the fourth round.But Sabalenka turned things around with an aggressive style and, importantly, by breaking Rybakina three times, the last coming for a 4-3 lead in the third set that was never relinquished.
Still, Sabalenka needed to work for the championship while serving in what would be the final game, double-faulting on her initial match point and requiring three more to close things out.When Rybakina sent a forehand long to cap the final after nearly 2½ hours, Sabalenka dropped to her back on the court and stayed down for a bit, covering her face as her eyes welled with tears.
Sabalenka was 0-3 in Grand Slam semifinals until eliminating Magda Linette in Melbourne. Now Sabalenka has done one better and will rise to No. 2 in the rankings.As seagulls were squawking loudly while flying overhead at Rod Laver Arena, Rybakina and Sabalenka traded booming serves. Rybakina’s fastest arrived at 121 mph, Sabalenka’s at 119 mph. They traded zooming groundstrokes from the baseline, often untouchable, resulting in winner after winner.
“Hopefully,” Rybakina said afterward, “we’re going to have many more battles.”
The key statistic, ultimately, was this: Sabalenka accumulated 13 break points, Rybakina seven. Sabalenka’s trio of conversions was enough, and the constant pressure she managed to apply during Rybakina’s service games had to take a toll.
Sabalenka had been broken just six times in 55 service games through the course of these two weeks, an average of once per match. It took Rybakina fewer than 10 minutes of action and all of two receiving games to get the measure of things and lead 2-1, helped by getting back one serve that arrived at 117 mph.
A few games later, Sabalenka returned the favor, also putting her racket on one of Rybakina’s offerings at that same speed. Then, when Sabalenka grooved a down-the-line backhand passing winner to grab her first break and pull even at 4-all, she looked at Dubrov and Stacy in the stands, raised a fist and shouted.
In the next game, though, Sabalenka gave that right back, double-faulting twice, including on break point, to give Rybakina a 5-4 edge. This time, Sabalenka again turned toward her entourage, but with a sigh and an eye roll and arms extended, as if to say, “Can you believe it?”
Soon after, Rybakina held at love to own that set.Sabalenka changed the momentum right from the get-go in the second set. Aggressively attacking, she broke to go up 3-1, held for 4-1 and eventually served it out, fittingly, with an ace — on a second serve, no less.
She acknowledged ahead of time that she expected to be nervous. Which makes perfect sense: This was the most important match of her career to date.And if those jitters were evident early — double-faulting on the match’s first point — and appeared to be resurfacing as the end neared, Sabalenka controlled them well enough to finish the job.
(ESPN)
Tempers flared between Virat Kohli and Travis Head in the Indian Premier League, as the former India captain refused to shake hands with the Australian batter after Head’s Sunrisers Hyderabad handed Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bengaluru a crushing 55-run defeat.
The two exchanged heated words when Kohli opened for Bengaluru, looking to chase down a daunting target of 256. During the exchange, a visibly angry Kohli was seen gesturing towards Head to come and bowl.
Kohli also mockingly made the “impact player” substitution gesture, a reference to Head, who is primarily a batter, often being replaced by Hyderabad for a specialist bowler after the Australian finishes batting.
Head did not have much time to take Kohli up on his invite, as the Bengaluru opener fell soon after, scoring 15 off 11 balls. The Australian, however, bowled an over later in the game and dismissed Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar.
As the teams lined up to shake hands after the match, Head held out his hand but Kohli looked straight ahead and walked past him.
Friday’s win left third-placed Hyderabad on equal points with Bengaluru, but Kohli’s side remained top of the table with a superior net run rate. Both teams have qualified for the IPL playoffs starting Wednesday.
[Aljazeera]
[Cricbuzz]
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Sunrisers Hyderabad win big but Royal Challengers Bengaaluru, Gujarat Titans seal top two spots
Sunrisers Hyderabad [SRH] won, and yet it didn’t feel like a win. Royal Challengers Bengaluru [RCB] lost, but it didn’t feel like that either. In a nutshell, that’s how Friday night went in Hyderabad as RCB secured a top-two finish – they finished No 1 – despite a 55-run defeat, while SRH remained third.
On the back of half-centuries from Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klassen and Ishan Kishan, SRH posted a monster total of 255, but had to restrict RCB to 166 or below for a chance to move into the top two. Rajat Patidar’s 56, Venkatesh Iyer’s 44 and Krunal Pandya’s unbeaten 41 ensured there were no blushes for RCB even as they finished the league stage with a defeat.
That left the top three teams all on 18 points, with Gujarat Titans sandwiched between the two teams at No. 1 and No. 3. Eventually, it came down to net run-rate to decide which team would go to Qualifier 1, and which team would play the Eliminator.
Going into the game, RCB wanted to win but also wanted to ensure they didn’t slip outside the top two should they lose. After SRH pumped 255 for 4 in 20 overs, the equation became clear – RCB had to avoid losing by 90 or more runs.
The start given by their new opener, Venkatesh, calmed the nerves. He gave Pat Cummins a four-six jab in the first over, and saved his best for the fourth over delivered by left-arm wristspinner Shivang Kumar. He punished Shivang for two sixes in one over, with a boundary sandwiched in between. Venkatesh fell for a 19-ball 44 but by then RCB had already scored 60 in 4.3 overs.
Even though Virat Kohli (15) failed to leave a mark in the game with the bat, a spunky 21 from No. 3 Devdutt Padikkal ensured RCB stayed on course for 166 even if the chase looked to get out of hand. Sakib Hussain, who delivered 1 for 31 in four overs, was a major reason why RCB could not push on.
Patidar scored his fourth half-century of the season, staying in from the sixth over to the 19th. His 39-ball 56 included crisp boundaries off Eshan Malinga, Cummins and Harshal Patel, but fell to part-timer Travis Head. Krunal stayed till the end with an unbeaten 41 in 31 balls as RCB finished on a commendable 200 for 4 by the end.
Dropped in the sixth, seventh and eighth overs, Abhishek made full use of the chances RCB’s fielders offered him. On a flat surface with no grass, he did not let purple-cap holder Bhuvneshwar Kumar settle. His early boundaries over the off-side against Bhuvneshwar’s awayswingers moved into his takedown of Suyash Sharma’s googly and Romario Shepherd’s seam-up balls.
Abhishek was finally out in the ninth over, but by then his turbo-charged innings had SRH almost touching triple-digits.
Kishan had three fifties against RCB in his last three outings, and on Friday, he made it four in a row with a 46-ball 79. While Abhishek was going, Kishan took his time to score nine off his first ten balls, but then found his groove.
His best shot of the night was probably the leg-side slog towards the bigger boundary against Krunal in the 11th over, a sign that timing and form continued to be on his side. A sixth 50-plus score for Kishan this season also made IPL 2026 his most prolific as a batter. His sweeps, cuts and pulls allowed SRH to pump 73 runs across overs 11 to 15.
Klaasen’s story was similar, starting off with only five runs in nine balls, but one that was unlocked with his takedown of Josh Hazlewood in the 13th over. One six over cow corner and two more over long-on made Hazlewood leak 27. His effortless loft of Bhuvneshwar over extra cover took him close to yet another landmark, and he brought up his sixth half-century of the season in the 16th over. He fell in the 17th over to a low-arm slinger from Krunal for 52, but not before becoming the first player to cross 600 runs while batting at No. 4 or lower in a T20 tournament.
Nitish Kumar Reddy scored a blazing unbeaten 29 in 12 balls to give SRH a late push. He hit Krunal for two sixes in his first three balls in the crease and then deposited Hazlewood for another.
The late flourish took SRH past 250 while also leaving RCB’s senior seam-bowling pair of Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood ducking for cover. Hazlewood conceded 55 on the night while Bhuvneshwar leaked 51. They both finished the evening wicketless.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 255 for 4 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 56, Travis Head 26, Ishan Kishan 79, Heinrich Klaasen 51, Nitish Kumar Reddy 29*; Rasikh Salam 2-52, SuyashSharma 1-36, Krunal Pandya 1-24) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 200 for 4 in 20 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 44, Virat Kohli 15, Devdutt Padikkal 21, Rajat Patidar 56, Krunal Pandya 41*, Tim David 15*; Eshan Malinga 2-33, Sakib Hussain 1-31, Travis Head 1-07) by 55 runs
[Cricinfo]
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