In addition, there's still a possibility that the Australian government could hand Djokovic a three-year ban from entering the country. As a result, Djokovic was forced to leave the country after a three-judge panel ruled in favor of the Australian government. 1 seed at the Aussie Open, lost his appeal with the Australian government on Sunday morning regarding an earlier ruling to cancel his visa. However, the world's top-ranked men's tennis player, Novak Djokovic, isn't among them. Over 60 of the world's best tennis players competing at Melbourne Park. Now she, Swiatek and Rybakina look set to battle out future majors in the absence of Ashleigh Barty, Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka.The year's first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, is here.

There were understandable nerves as the 24-year-old from Minsk served for the title but, when Rybakina sent a forehand long on match point number four, she fell onto her back and cried tears of joy.Īfter several near-misses, many had doubted whether she had the temperament to win a Slam having made the semi-finals at the last two US Opens and Wimbledon 2021. Rybakina came through a tough service game to lead 3-2, but could not withstand Sabalenka's pressure for much longer as the Belarusian converted her third break point of the game to go into a 4-3 lead.

Sabalenka, who served five aces and five double faults in the first set, had to save two break points in the opening game of the second set.Īnd she racked up the winners as she broke Rybakina's serve to lead 3-1 before taking the set 6-3 to force a decider. Rybakina had been similarly impressive, defeating world number one Iga Swiatek and fellow Slam winners Jelena Ostapenko and Victoria Azarenka, on her run to the final.Īnd it was the Kazakh player who secured the first break of serve to lead 2-1 before her opponent broke back to level at 4-4.Īnd Rybakina broke again to leave 5-4 before holding serve to love to take the opening set. Big-hitting Sabalenka beat Magda Linette in the semi-finals and kept up her record of not dropping a set during the tournament.

Australian open tennis results today