{"id":4909,"date":"2026-01-11T10:35:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T10:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/01\/11\/aryna-sabalenka-wins-brisbane-title-ahead-of-australian-open\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T10:35:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T10:35:48","slug":"aryna-sabalenka-wins-brisbane-title-ahead-of-australian-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/01\/11\/aryna-sabalenka-wins-brisbane-title-ahead-of-australian-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Aryna Sabalenka wins Brisbane title ahead of Australian Open"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>World number one becomes back-to-back champion at the Brisbane International with a straight-sets victory over Marta Kostyuk.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>World number one Aryna Sabalenka brushed aside Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-3 in the Brisbane International final on Sunday to retain the title without losing a set ahead of her bid to reclaim the Australian Open title this month.<\/p>\n<p>Kostyuk had beaten top 10 players Jessica Pegula, Mirra Andreeva and Amanda Anisimova on her way to the final but was no match for the sheer power of the US Open champion.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/1\/10\/barcelona-vs-real-madrid-supercopa-final-2026-el-clasico-teams-start\">Barca defend Spanish Super Cup against Real in Saudi Arabia \u2013 all to know<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/1\/10\/impressive-nigeria-beat-algeria-2-0-to-set-up-afcon-semifinal-with-morocco\">Impressive Nigeria beat Algeria 2-0 to set up AFCON semifinal with Morocco<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/1\/10\/salah-seals-egypt-win-against-holders-ivory-coast-to-reach-afcon-2025-semis\">Salah seals Egypt win against holders Ivory Coast to reach AFCON 2025 semis<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/1\/10\/morocco-coach-angrily-rejects-afcon-ref-bias-ahead-of-semifinals\">Morocco coach angrily rejects AFCON ref bias as Nigeria semifinal looms<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Sabalenka is determined to win back the Australian Open title she relinquished last year, and her performance in the fierce Brisbane heat suggests she will be hard to beat at Melbourne Park this month.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThank you to my team for handling me. I\u2019m really the toughest one to handle, and you guys are the toughest people in the world if you can handle me,\u201d she told the crowd before directing a comment at\u00a0partner\u00a0Georgios Frangulis in\u00a0the stands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThank you to my boyfriend. Hopefully, soon I\u2019ll call you something else, right? Let\u2019s just put a bit of extra pressure on, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4230700\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4230700\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026-01-11T073241Z_28865014_UP1EM1B0KYFLQ_RTRMADP_3_TENNIS-BRISBANE-1768122122.jpg?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C516&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"Marta Kostyuk in action.\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4230700\">Ukraine\u2019s Marta Kostyuk in action during the final against Sabalenka [Dan Peled\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"sabalenka-overpowers-kostyuk\">Sabalenka overpowers Kostyuk<\/h2>\n<p>Sabalenka\u00a0raced off to a 3-0 lead in the opening set before coming a bit unstuck as her first serve deserted her and her 23-year-old opponent feasted on her second.<\/p>\n<p>There were the familiar hangdog expressions as\u00a0Sabalenka\u00a0raised her eyes to the skies in reaction to spraying a shot high and wide, but it did not last for long.<\/p>\n<p>Rallying at 3-3,\u00a0Sabalenka\u00a0reduced the number of wild swings and heaped the pressure on her 26th-ranked opponent with the sheer power and accuracy of her strokes.<\/p>\n<p>She quickly wrapped up the opening set and was soon 3-0 up in the second after again taking Kostyuk\u2019s first service game.<\/p>\n<p>There was no way back for Kostyuk this time, and she faced a real battle just to hold her serve three times before Sabalenka served out to secure her 22nd WTA title, sealing the deal when her opponent netted a return on her first championship point.<\/p>\n<p>Kostyuk said her thoughts were with the people back home in her war-torn country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI play every day with a pain in my heart, and there are thousands of people who are without light and warm water,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight now it\u2019s minus 20 degrees [Celsius] outside, so it\u2019s very, very painful to live this reality every day. It\u2019s very hot here in Brisbane, so it\u2019s difficult to imagine this, but my sister is sleeping under three blankets because of how cold it is at home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sabalenka\u00a0will be gunning for a third Australian Open and fifth major title at the year\u2019s first Grand Slam, which starts on January 18.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4230703\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4230703\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026-01-11T074501Z_685387808_UP1EM1B0LIZM0_RTRMADP_3_TENNIS-BRISBANE-1768122190.jpg?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C529&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"Aryna Sabalenka in action.\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4230703\">Sabalenka won her second straight Brisbane International title and will attempt to win a third Australian Open singles crown in Melbourne later this month [Dan Peled\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>World number one becomes back-to-back champion at the Brisbane International with a straight-sets victory over Marta Kostyuk. World number one Aryna Sabalenka brushed aside Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-3 in the Brisbane International final on Sunday to retain the title without losing a set ahead of her bid to reclaim the Australian Open title this month. &#8230; <a title=\"Aryna Sabalenka wins Brisbane title ahead of Australian Open\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/01\/11\/aryna-sabalenka-wins-brisbane-title-ahead-of-australian-open\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Aryna Sabalenka wins Brisbane title ahead of Australian Open\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}