Sabalenka, 24, was playing in her first Grand Slam singles final after breaking through following three semifinal appearances in the past two years.
The winner among winners turned out to be Aryna Sabalenka, the 24-year-old Belarusian ranked No. 5 who has overcome some of the goblins and vultures that often circle tennis-playing heads. It seemed to fit that it took her four championship points to snare her first major title. It seemed to fit that when Elena Rybakina’s last blast landed just long to end matters at 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, Sabalenka fell to the court, stared upward and sobbed.
It also fit that Rybakina, the reigning Wimbledon champion, walked across the net to greet Sabalenka and join her in a hug of respect, for the two of them had produced something of a rare quality.It had begun with Rybakina, the 23-year-old Russian who has played for Kazakhstan since 2018, making her bid to pretty much join No. 1 Iga Swiatek atop the sport, winning the first set by breaking back for 5-4 after Sabalenka had broken her for 4-4.
Sabalenka, who for several years seemed has seemed a marvel who lacked only that calm, showed she has developed the calm to become marvel. After losing three previous Grand Slam semifinals, she won her first Grand Slam singles final. She broke Rybakina in the fourth game of the second set and the seventh game of the third, as the match filled with the deuces of long, tight games.
Finally, she faced a monster of a closing game, serving with her mighty serve, one of the two mighty serves present in the final. She double-faulted on her first championship point at 40-30, revisiting an old horror that used to plague her game until she spent much of last year in the hard act of repair. She answered that with a sharp cross-court forehand winner, showing her steel.
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