Sabalenka wins 22nd title in Brisbane, passes Azarenka for third among active players

Aryna Sabalenka fittingly donned green and gold as she captured yet another title in Australia on Sunday, defeating Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour and 18 minutes at Pat Rafter Arena to defend her Brisbane International crown.

Her second Brisbane title is her fifth in Australia and the 22nd of her career, pushing her past Victoria Azarenka for the third-most WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz titles among active players, behind Venus Williams and Iga Swiatek.

Sabalenka won the trophy without dropping a set all week, despite Kostyuk’s best efforts to change that in the final.

“I want to start with congratulating Marta and her team on an incredible start to the season,” Sabalenka said during the trophy presentation. “I hope that we’re going to meet each other many more times in the finals to show great tennis.”

Both players delivered high-level tennis throughout the week. Sabalenka notched wins over Madison Keys and Karolina Muchova before defeating Kostyuk for the title. Kostyuk, meanwhile, put together one of the strongest runs of her career, earning three Top 10 victories over Amanda Anisimova, Mirra Andreeva and Jessica Pegula before falling short in the final.

But it wasn’t enough to secure her first title since 2023 or her first above the WTA 250 level, as Sabalenka pounced early.

Sabalenka held serve to open the match, then grinded out an early break for a 2-0 lead, converting on her fourth break point. After extending her lead to 3-0, Kostyuk came alive, winning three straight games to level the set at 3-all.

The set remained on serve until the 10th game, when a small opening from Kostyuk was all Sabalenka needed. The World No. 1 broke again to take the opener, finishing the set having won 100% of her first-serve points.

In the second set, Sabalenka showed why she’s one of the tour’s best frontrunners. She once again held to start, broke for 2-0 and quickly stretched the lead to 3-0. 

This time, there was no Kostyuk comeback. Sabalenka punctuated her hold for 4-1 with a combination drop shot plus crosscourt forehand winner, then served out the match comfortably a few games later.

"Then couple years ago, I finally found the touch game. I figured something, and I kind of like changed my game style," Sabalenka said to reporters. "Now I'm not only the aggressive player. I can play at the net, I can be in the defense, I can use my slice, I have a good touch.

"That's something that I have been working my whole career to be, to have that variety in my game, to have A, B, C plans for the match. And I'm super happy to see that things are clicking together."

While she couldn’t stay perfect on serve, Sabalenka still won 81% of her first-serve points and faced only three break points, losing just one. Meanwhile, she converted three of her eight break chances going the other way.

With her first title of 2026 secured, Sabalenka now turns her attention to the Australian Open, where she is the defending runner-up after falling to Keys in last year’s final. She’ll enter as the No. 1 seed as she chases a third title in Melbourne.

For Kostyuk, the week remains encouraging despite the sour ending. The Ukrainian will return to the Top 20 in the PIF WTA Rankings on Monday and appears poised for a deeper Australian Open run than last year, when she exited in the third round to Paula Badosa.