BRISBANE — Aryna Sabalenka won her second Brisbane International title to
enjoy a perfect start to her 2025 WTA Tour season. This was her fourth trophy
Down Under since 2023.
Sabalenka came back from a set down to defeat the
21-year-old qualifier Polina Kudermetova 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the women's singles
final to secure her 18th career title. The Belarusian won her first Brisbane
title in 2023, when the event was held in Adelaide. In that final, she beat
another qualifier, Linda Noskova.
Kudermetova was chasing her eighth straight win at the
Queensland Tennis Centre, having earlier taken down seeds Liudmila Samsonova
and Daria Kasatkina en route, but found arguably her finest in the first set of
her first encounter with a World No.1.
"I want to congrats Polina on an impressive week from
the qualies all the way to the final, so I’m pretty sure many more to come. You
guys are definitely doing the right things. Honestly, I really want to know
every speed of our shots today. I think it’s going beat the record for sure.
That was a pretty aggressive game…
"Always a fun time in Brisbane. Thank you Brisbane for
having me. All the fnas, thank you guys for supporting me. I felt all of the
support from the very beginning of the week til the very last point. I really
appreciate it and that’s why I love playing in Australia and in Brisbane. Just
overall in Australia because you guys are amazing," Sabalenka said.
Kudermetova came through qualifying and navigated a
difficult draw just to make her first WTA final. She notched the first Top 10
win of her career this week when she rallied to beat World No.9 Daria Kasatkina
1-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the Round of 16. She defeated Wang Xinyu, Liudmila Samsonova,
Ashlyn Krueger, and Anhelina Kalinina to win five consecutive matches for the
first time in her career.
The 26-year-old Sabalenka has now claimed 16 of her 18
titles on hard court, including two at Melbourne Park, one at Adelaide and
Sunday’s Brisbane decider. Last year, she fell just short to Elena Rybakina in
the final.
Sabalenka will next play in Melbourne, where she is the
two-time Australian Open defending champion. She is bidding to become the first
woman to win three consecutive Australian Opens since Martina Hingis dominated
the event from 1997 to 1999.
