Two former Australian Open finalists will vie for the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup at Melbourne Park.
It’s fair to say Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina truly deserve their spots in the Australian Open 2026 women’s singles final.
Rewind to 2023 and they were the very best Down Under too, with Sabalenka capturing her maiden major with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 scoreboard over Rybakina in a blockbuster battle.
Can the Kazakh gain revenge over the world No.1 on Saturday on Rod Laver Arena?
💪 The context / The current form
Just to exemplify that these Top 5 talents are the finest two in town, they are first pair to face each other in the women’s Australian Open silverware showdown both without dropping a set en route since 2004.
That night it was Justin Henin and Kim Clijsters. Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina are at that top tier.
In Sabalenka’s case, the world No.1 hopes to regain the Australian Open title (2023-2024) having fallen to Madison Keys in last year’s final.
The women to rule Down Under three times in the Open Era are Martina Navratilova and Martina Hingis. Not bad company to rank joint-third in the all-time list.
Rybakina, the Wimbledon 2022 winner, has prevailed in 19 of her past 20 matches, so she's in prime position to clinch a second major.
🏆 Their 2026 tournament
The Tiger spirit has been out in force this fortnight. Take the semi-final dismissal of Elina Svitolina, the control of the rallies and pace of the points was jaw dropping.
The top seed has found her top form.
Here’s Rybakina’s view: “I started this tournament maybe not at my best form, but throughout the tournament it improved, and I played better each match.”
That’s an understatement as the 26-year-old nullified the weapons of world No.2 Iga Swiatek with consummate ease and then fended off a late surge from Jessica Pegula like a true champion.
🆚 Face-to-face
This will be the 15th meeting for the major champions, with Sabalenka owning the series advantage at 8-6.
From their first encounter at Wuhan 2009, the world No.1 took the honours in their first four meetings, including the AO 2023 final.
Rybakina’s opening triumph over the top seed came in the Indian Wells 2023 final. Just two months ago, the world No.5 defeated Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6(0) in the WTA Finals trophy showdown.
🎤 Heard in media
Aryna Sabalenka : "I think her shots are heavy, deep, flat balls. It's not easy to work with, but we have a great history. She's incredible player. We had a lot of great battles, a lot of finals we played. I'm looking forward to battle this power…
“I'm not going to look at that final (2023), because me and her, we both are different players. We went through different things. We're much stronger mental and physically, and we're playing better tennis now. I'll approach this match as the very first one, and I will do my very best.”
Elena Rybakina : "Last match we played here, it was very close. I think I throughout the match I had some little opportunities, but in the end of this third set, I think Aryna stepped in. She served much better. Yeah, she deserved that win.
“Of course many years passed, a lot of matches has been played. Hopefully with all the experience which I got from this last match, last time final I played here, I can bring it to Saturday match and do my best. Since we are both very aggressive players, serve is important.
“Fight till the end, and hopefully this time it's gonna go my way.”
ROLAND-GARROS
18 May - 7 June 2026
