Rybakina defeats Pegula, Australian Open final rematch with Sabalenka – Tennis Now

By Richard Pagliaro Thursday, January 29, 2026
Photo credit: Zhang Lintao/Getty

Elena Rybakina A return to the Australian Open final with loud shots and escalating drama.

Rybakina won the fourth match point with a backhand return from the baseline, and finally defeated her opponent 6-3, 7-6(7). Jessica Pegula Tonight’s Australian Open semi-finals.

“It means a lot. Thank you so much for coming to see us play – it was a real battle,” Rybakina told fans at Rod Laver Arena after the game. “It was an epic second set and I’m really happy that I was able to win it.

“Jessica played really well in the second set. She fought until the end. I’m very happy to be in the final.”

Rybakina more than doubled Pegula’s win total (31 to 14) and hit six aces and no double faults for her 19th victory in the last 20 matches. During that stellar stretch, Rybakina defeated nine consecutive top-10 opponents.

A hard-fought win pushes Rybakina into Saturday’s final World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

Previously, two-time AO champion Sabalenka swept No. 12 seed Elena Svitolina, 6-2, 6-3, become a natural Legendary Hall of Famer Martina Hingis In 2002, he advanced to the AO finals four times in a row.

This AO final is a rematch of the 2023 AO final. Sabalenka won 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and won the Melbourne championship for the first time.

“We had a great battle,” Rybakina said of the rematch with Sabalenka. “I thought she played a little better at the end.

“She won that match – well worth it – and I want to enjoy, that’s for sure, the final. Hopefully I can serve better today and that will help me, but we’ll see.”

In their last meeting in Riyadh last November, Rybakina saved two set points in the tenth game and then swept the tiebreaker Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6(0) to win her first WTA Finals title.

Overall, Sabalenka leads their series 8-6, with eight of the 14 games going to three sets.

Rybakina finished the Riyadh match undefeated at the WTA Finals, lifting the Billie Jean King Trophy, achieving her 11th consecutive victory and earning a record WTA championship prize of $5.235 million.

“You literally kicked me out of the courtroom,” Sabalenka told Rybakina afterwards. “Well done. I’m happy to see you playing your best tennis. Great comeback at the end of the season.”

Facing Pegula, who was participating in the AO semifinals for the first time, Rybakina’s performance was both powerful and calm.

After the fifth-seeded American won three match points in the ninth game of the second set, Rybakina failed to hold on twice as she fumbled her forehand at times. Nonetheless, Rybakina showed determination and erased two points in the decider, fighting back from 4-5 down to win four of the final six points.

“No matter what the situation is, I’m very proud,” Rybakina said. “I won and then of course the game got very tight. I still stayed there. I fought for every point.

“This race started off pretty well compared to previous races I’ve been in. Overall, I saw a lot of positives.”

Tonight, Rybakina started the match with a love hold, and then won a break point in the second game by defeating Pegula in a cross-court forehand confrontation. Pegula missed just one serve in the match, and he hit a short backhand into the net, breaking Kazakhstan’s serve 2-0.

Rybakina’s second consecutive backhand serve put the 5-foot-7 American in trouble, and Rybakina broke serve 10 minutes later to extend the lead to 3-0.

Rybakina’s serve fueled her hot start in cooler, slower conditions at Melbourne Park. Rybakina led 4-1 after just 16 minutes of play, completing her second love victory.

The sixth seed Pegula used her body to maintain serve and narrow the gap to 3-5.

As Pegula completed another second hair extension, she pressed her vanilla mask against her face in mock horror.

On her second set point, Rybakina nailed Pegula with a pounding forehand in the bottom corner, and her backhand winner sealed a strong first set in the 32nd minute.

Although her serve hit rate was only 48%, Rybakina was virtually unbeatable on second serve points in the set, scoring 11 of 14 second serve points. Pegula tried to cross the baseline and receive the serve on the rise, but was unable to make any headway. Rybakina eliminated second seed Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-1 in the quarterfinals, extending her streak of holding serve to 13 games.

The bad news for Pegula: Rybakina dominated despite a low first-server hit rate. Even worse news: Rybakina, the strong front-runner, had won 23 games in a row when she won the first set.

The 2024 U.S. Open finalist hit an ace in the second set.

Two games later, Pegula took the initiative to attack, worked hard to score, and gained wide space on the baseline. Instead, the American fired a backhand volley at Rybakina, who earned the break point with a backhand pass from the baseline. After 45 minutes, Rybakina scored with a forehand, 2-1.

A sullen Pegula’s shoulders slumped, knowing full well that given Rybakina had not faced a break point all night, this break could be fatal.

Pegula ran around her backhand and hit a forehand return on her second serve for her first break point of the night. Pegula pushed Rybakina away and made a backhand error to get her first break of serve and break the Kazakh’s record of 14 consecutive service holds to tie the match at 2.

Coach Mark Merklein told Pegula to sit on Rybakina’s cross-court forehand because he knew she wouldn’t be comfortable hitting that shot from the baseline.

“You knew she was going to be there, Jesse,” said Merlin, a former Florida State All-American. “You can stay in that corner and you know it’s there.”

Rybakina ignored the break and hit a backhand with such force that it almost knocked Pegula down, and she broke back to 3-2.

“Keep serving big balls,” coach Stefano Vukov told Rybakina.

The 6-foot-tall Kazakhstani player took that advice to heart and hit an ace at 30 to make it 4-2.

Rybakina hit her fourth ace out of bounds to lead 5-3.

The finish line was in sight, but Pegula kept fighting.

Rybakina earned match point when Pegula hit a two-handed shot wide of the line. Pegula denied this with deep force. On her second match point, Rybakina dragged her forehand out of the baseline. Rybakina secured her third match point with a cross-court forehand return winner, but she missed another forehand long.

Pegula hit an ace in the middle, stepped up, saved three match points, and tied the score to 4-5, which was the longest game of the game.

After taking the court, Pegula hit the best backhand return of the night with a Love-30 in the 10th game. The tight Rybakina missed consecutive forehands, and Pegula suddenly got a break and tied the score at 5.

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That was a temporary reprieve. Pegula hit a bad lob and then inexplicably targeted Rybakina’s backhand, her stronger wing. Rybakina hit a deep shot to make it 6-5, and Pegula crouched and knocked her blue Yonex racket off the court, frustrated at the wasted opportunity.

Testing Rybakina’s more vulnerable forehand flank, Pegula committed three forehand errors in four minutes, including a floated forehand before she managed to fight back and force the match into a decider.

The 2022 Wimbledon champion led 4-2 in the decider. Pegula responded, winning four of the next five points, including a 6-5 smash to win set point. Although Pegula seemed to be breaking the Kazakh’s forehand, Rybakina responded when she needed it most.

Rybakina saved the first set point with a forehand break, and then the American’s forehand running error erased the second set point, tying the score at 7.

Ultimately, Rybakina’s two loudest shots – her serve and backhand – ended the match. Ribakina issued the sixth trump card and obtained the fourth set point. This time, she made no mistake with a backhand return from the baseline, capping a 100-minute match that began with a blunt declaration and ended in dramatic fashion.