“Each day you step onto the court and demonstrate your capabilities, and I believe my performance this week was exceptionally strong,” stated Sabalenka, who completed the entire competition without losing a single set.
Regarding the upcoming Australian Open, she commented: “All I am certain of is my presence there, ready to contend fiercely.”
Sabalenka suffered a defeat in the Melbourne Park final last year at the hands of Madison Keys, despite having been crowned champion in the years 2023 and 2024.
“My utmost effort will be dedicated to advancing as far as I can,” she further stated. “And to surpassing my performance from the previous year. That remains my primary objective.”
Kostyuk, who previously failed to secure a single set in her four prior encounters against Sabalenka, regained her composure after nullifying an initial service break, yet she conceded her serve once more in the tenth game when her adversary elevated her game’s intensity to clinch the opening set.
The player ranked 16th was vying for only her second WTA singles championship in what marked her initial final appearance in two years and her fourth overall, however, her strategy faltered significantly under the formidable power of Sabalenka’s baseline shots.
A solitary service break early in the second set was sufficient for Sabalenka to defeat the player ranked 26th globally, as Kostyuk sent her shot into the net on the very first opportunity for championship victory.
Kostyuk found it challenging to suppress her emotions while addressing the audience in Brisbane concerning the situation in her native Ukraine, where authorities have been striving to restore heating and water infrastructure impacted by Russian aerial bombardments.
“I wish to share some thoughts regarding Ukraine,” she expressed. “I compete daily burdened by heartfelt sorrow. Currently, thousands of individuals lack electricity and hot water. With temperatures plummeting to minus 20 degrees Celsius outdoors, experiencing this daily reality is exceedingly distressing.”
“The heat here in Brisbane makes it challenging to conceive, naturally, yet my sister must sleep beneath three blankets due to the intense cold back home.”
Sabalenka’s twenty-second WTA championship represents her initial victory following her triumph at the US Open in September, where she secured her fourth Grand Slam title.
The Russian top-ranked player, Daniil Medvedev, defeated American Brandon Nakashima with scores of 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) in the men’s championship match held in Brisbane, thereby securing his twenty-second ATP title, achieved across twenty-two distinct competitions.
Medvedev, the 29-year-old former world number one, has been the losing finalist at the Australian Open on three occasions – specifically in 2021, 2022, and 2024 – yet he endured an 882-day period without winning a title before concluding that streak with a win at the Almaty Open in October.
Concurrently, Alfie Hewett, ranked second globally from Great Britain, required merely 65 minutes to overcome Spain’s second-seeded Martin de la Puente with scores of 6-1, 6-3 in the championship match for men’s wheelchair singles.
However, the leading British pair, Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool, were defeated in the men’s doubles final with a scoreline of 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 by the third-seeded duo comprising Francisco Cabral from Portugal and Lucas Miedler from Austria.
