World number one Aryna Sabalenka avoided becoming Marta Kostyuk’s latest top-10 scalp in Sunday’s final to win the Brisbane International title for the second consecutive year.
Sabalenka won 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and 17 minutes, retaining the trophy she first won a year ago by defeating Polina Kudermetova, and did not drop a set all week.
Kostyuk had defeated Amanda Anisimova, Mira Andreeva and Jessica Pegula in straight sets en route to the final, but fell short against Sabalenka’s powerful groundstrokes, dashing her hopes of winning a second career title after the ATX Open in March 2023.
Sabalenka currently has 22 career titles, the third most among active players on the WTA Tour.
Sabalenka, who currently has 22 titles, the third most among active WTA players after Iga Swiatek (25) and Venus Williams (49), is looking to continue her form into the Australian Open starting January 18th.
The Belarusian has reached the last three finals in Melbourne, defeating Elena Rybakina in 2023 and Jenn Kinwen a year later, before losing to Madison Keys in 2025.
Sabalenka got her revenge on Keys this week in Brisbane by defeating him 6-3, 6-3 in the quarter-finals.
Kostyuk: I play with pain in my heart every day.
Runner-up Marta Kostyuk beats three top 10 players to advance to Brisbane final
After the defeat, Kostyuk spoke passionately about the plight of the people of Ukraine, who were further bombarded by Russia, saying: “Every day I play with pain in my heart. There are thousands of people right now without light or hot water.”
“It’s -20 degrees outside so it’s very, very hard to live this reality every day. It’s so hot in Brisbane that it’s hard to imagine. But at home it’s so cold that my sister sleeps with three layers of blankets.”
In New Zealand, Kostyuk’s fellow Ukrainian Elina Svitolina won her 19th career title, defeating China’s Xinyu Wang 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) at the ASB Classic in Auckland.
Elina Svitolina kisses the trophy after winning her 19th career title at the ASB Classic in Auckland
Svitolina fought back from the brink in the quarterfinals against England’s Sonai Kartal earlier this week, with Kartal leading 5-3 serving for the match in the final set, but losing in the tiebreak 7-5.
Top seed Svitolina said after winning the title: “It’s a great feeling, especially after the not-so-good ending to last season.
“I’m glad we played some tough games here this week and won the final. I hope we can build on that for the rest of the season.”
Bublik wins in Hong Kong, knocking Draper out of world top 10
In the men’s event in Hong Kong, Alexander Bublik defeated Lorenzo Musetti 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 to win his ninth career title and fifth in eight months.
The Kazakh player also broke into the world’s top 10 for the first time, knocking Britain’s Jack Draper, who is sidelined with an arm injury and will miss the Australian Open, to 11th place.
Bublik said: “I have no words. My only goal this season was to be in the top 10, and I won the title in the first week and I was in the top 10.”
“If you had said that to me last April, I would never have believed you. It’s a great joy for me to stand here and I want to continue in the same way.”
Italian Musetti, who has lost seven straight finals and hasn’t won a title since October 2022, jumped to a career-high fifth place in the rankings, leapfrogging Australia’s Alex de Minaur and Canada’s Félix Auger-Aliassime.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Daniil Medvedev defeated American Brandon Nakashima in straight sets at the men’s Brisbane International for his 22nd career victory, moving up two places to 12th place. It was the same court where Sabalenka clinched her victory 22 hours earlier.
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