Aryna Sabalenka has proven her mental toughness time and again since winning her first major title at the Australian Open, but the world No. 1 confessed she even surprised herself at times on Rod Laver Arena.
“I was playing this match and thinking, ‘Wow, girl! You’re really tough!’” Sabalenka exclaimed after a 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory over Clara Tauson. “So many times, I was thinking, ‘Ok, I’m done,’ but I was like, ‘Keep pushing.’
“I have to say, you guys are helping so much to push myself to keep playing in front of you,” she added, crediting the crowd for the win.
A kind gesture, but the crowd seemed often incidental to the slugfest playing out between two players who were as-yet unbeaten in 2025: Sabalenka began the year with a title run in Brisbane while Tauson edged past an injured Naomi Osaka to lift a trophy in Auckland.
Tauson is a former junior Australian Open champion; Sabalenka has won the women’s title for two years running, and bids to become the first since Martina Hingis (1997-1999) to hoist the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy three years in a row.
Only one could emerge victorious, and it was Sabalenka’s superior consistency that won the day after two hours and six minutes to open play on Laver.
