Aryna Sabalenka saved a championship point before defeating Elena Rybakina in the Indian Wells final on Sunday.
The Belarusian avenged her loss Australian Open final loss to the Kazakh, beating Rybakina 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 in the Californian desert.
Sabalenka had lost her four previous finals against Rybakina, but stopped the rot on Sunday with a performance worthy of the world number one spot.
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The 27-year-old deserves great credit for the way she handled the high stakes moments against Rybakina: when match point down, the Belarusian hit a stunning backhand winner, before closing out the tiebreak 8-6.
It seems the Belarusian has turned a corner after her recent ‘capitulation’ Australian Open final.
Aryna Sabalenka maintained her composure against Elena Rybakina
Earlier this year, Aryna Sabalenka squandered a 3-0 final set lead to Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open final, eventually losing the contest 4-6, 6-4, 4-6.
This prompted Pat Cash to claim the Belarusian had capitulated.
“Sabalenka was very effective on the first serve in the second set, barely dropping a point when she got the return in,” he said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“Rybakina did have some wobbles on her forehand in the semi-final, but other than that it was clean ball-striking.
Sabalenka will go away with a lot of things to think about — she basically capitulated.”
Annabel Croft, the former world number 24, added that Sabalenka had ‘lost her composure.’
“I think the composure Sabalenka had for most of the match got her to 3-0 in the final set,” Croft said.
“She wasn’t handling the situation well, she was strutting around and she lost her composure completely.
“I felt that Sabalenka really beat herself up in that final set. The minute panic set in she just steamrolled in the wrong direction.”
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This was not the first time Sabalenka’s composure in pressure situations had been questioned.
Last year, the four-time major champion lost her cool against Coco Gauff and ended up surrendering a one set lead in the French Open final.
However, Sabalenka has now demonstrated that she has learned from her previous mistakes.
After some early wobbles, Sabalenka demonstrated an ice-cool attitude, brushing off the disappointment of failing to serve out the match at 5-4 in the final set.
| Round | Opponent | Result |
| R2 | Himeno Sakatsume | 6–4, 6–2 |
| R3 | Jaqueline Cristian | 6–4, 6–1 |
| R4 | Naomi Osaka | 6–2, 6–4 |
| Quarterfinal | Victoria Mboko | 7–6, 6–4 |
| Semifinal | Linda Noskova | 6–3, 6–4 |
| Final | Elena Rybakina | 3–6, 6–3, 7–6 |
And when four opportunities to break the Rybakina serve passed her by, she again maintained her composure.
Sabalenka’s composure in the tiebreak also warrants great credit. As mentioned previously, the 27-year-old remained calm when championship point down, winning three consecutive points to close out the match.
If the Belarusian can carry this composure into the Grand Slam arena, it seems unlikely that any player on the WTA Tour would be able to prevent her from winning multiple Grand Slams this year.
Aryna Sabalenka matches Victoria Azarenka feat
As per OptaAce, Aryna Sabalenka has claimed her 20th hard court WTA level title, becoming the first player to reach this milestone since Victoria Azarenka at the 2020 Cincinnati Open.
Azarenka, a two-time Grand Slam singles champion, won the 2020 Cincinnati Open in unusual circumstances after Naomi Osaka withdrew ahead of the final due to a hamstring injury.
After the trophy presentation, Osaka said: “Yeah, so actually I felt my hamstring after my first match. Normally it’s because, you know, it’s kind of tired and I get it — because I haven’t played a match in, like, six, seven months. So for me that was normal.
“In the last match that I played I was more — I felt it more during the super long service game I had in the second set. Then it just slowly started getting worse and worse.
“Then during the tiebreak I felt it again, like, a stronger pain. So, yeah, I would say there were definitely key moments where it just started getting worse.”
