Australian Open 2026 final: Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina prepare for an exciting women’s final

“Sabalenka has a bit more firepower that can force Rybakina into some areas she doesn’t want to be in – but there’s not a lot of it,” said Pat Cash, the 1987 Wimbledon champion and BBC Radio 5 live pundit.

“It will be interesting to see how they handle each other’s pace.”

Sabalenka has reached her seventh consecutive Grand Slam final on hard courts, becoming the third woman in the Open Era to achieve this feat after Steffi Graf and Martina Hingis.

Sabalenka has also competed in the Australian Open final in each of the past four years, and her consistency in reaching the latter stages of a Grand Slam is unparalleled among the current crop.

However, there is still a feeling that Sabalenka was unable to turn as many of those matches into major titles as she should have, given her dominance on the WTA Tour.

Sabalenka, who lost in the final of the Australian Open and French Open in 2025, said: “I would say that last year had a lot of lessons, a lot of things I learned about myself, and this season will definitely not happen again.”

“It’s a different mentality that I will try to have in every final I play.

“My mentality is that I’m ready to go out there, fight with what I have and do everything I can.”