128 women had entered the main draw a fortnight back at the Melbourne Park. It down to the final two. World No.5 Aryna Sabalenka, one of the favourites at the start of the tournament, will be vying for her maiden Grand Slam title, against reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, who has scripted a surprise run to the final.
Sabalenka's stunning run at the start of the season witha title in Adelaide and a transformed approach made her the favourite in the lower half of the draw. Continuing her form, she beat No.12 seed Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, Donna Vekic in the quarters and surprise semifinalist Magda Linette to make the final. Rybakina, on the other hand, left most, if not all, surprised with her inspiring run at the Melbourne Park. Despite being a Grand Slam winner, Rybakina had started out her campaign on the side courts before edging three Grand Slam winners, including the hot favourite and world no.1 Iga Swiatek, to make the final.
Ahead of the blockbuster Australian Open final between Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina at the Melbourne Park, we take a look at the head-to-head record, key stats and records in line for the match...
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD:
{{/usCountry}}HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD:
{{/usCountry}}The two of have previously met each other three times on WTA tour, all of which were of three sets. Sabalenka won on all ocassions. Their last meeting was in the round of 16 of 2021 Wimbledon, the year before Rybakina had lifted the trophy at the SW19. The other two were hard-court meetings, both in the quarterfinal round - in Abu Dhabi in 2021 and in Wuhan in 2019.
RANKING SCENARIO:
Rybakina had entered the tournament a fortnight back as world no.25. With her incredible run to the final, she is guaranteed to make a maiden appearance in the top-10. And with a second Grand Slam title to her name, she can move to as high as No.8 on Monday.
Sabalenka, presently ranked fifth in the world, is guaranteed to leave the tournament as the new world no.2 on Monday irrespective of the result in the final.
NUMBERS FROM AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2023:
| Aryna Sabalenka | Elena Rybakina | |
| 29 | Aces | 44 |
| 75.3 | 1st serve win % | 79.5 |
| 64.2 | 2nd serve win % | 53.1 |
| 25/30 | Break Points saved | 15/24 |
| 39.9 | Return points won % | 42.4 |
| 24/49 | Break points won | 26/49 |
| 196/136 | Winners/Unforced errors | 158/149 |
RECORDS AT STAKE:
The stat that has perfectly defined Rybakina's tremendous show in Melbourne Park has been her win over three former Grand Slam winners (Iga Swiatek, Jelena Ostapenko and Victoria Azarenka) en route to the final. On Saturday, she will aim to become the first evet female player to complete this run with the title since Jennifer Capriati in 2001 (Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles).
With her victory, WTA will have two players as reigning Grand Slam winners of two Slams, a first of its kind since 2004 when Justine Henin-Hardenne had lifted the Australian Open title. The German was then the reigning champion in Melbourne an Roland Garros while Serena Williams held the Wimbledon and US Open crown.
At 23, Rybakina is also bidding to become the youngest ever women's player to be the Wimbledon and Australian Open winner since Maria Sharapova in 2008.
Sabalenka, on the other hand, will add to her marvelous winning streak since 2023 - 10-0 with a win in Adelaide and grabbed 20 straight sets. With that run, she became the third female player this century to win her first 10 seasonal matches without dropping a single set after Anna Smashnova in 2002 and Agnieszka Radwanska in 2013.