Sabalenka wins first title of 2026 at Brisbane

Aryna Sabalenka won her third Brisbane International title by beating Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-3 in the final on Sunday at Pat Rafter Arena. 

The world number one completed the straight-sets victory in 1 hour and 17 minutes, staying perfect at 7-0 in the event across three triumphs in 2023, 2025, and 2026.

Sabalenka shook off most of Kostyuk’s early aggression, where the Ukrainian targeted second serves with drop shots to erase an opening break and level the first set at 2-2.

She regained control through baseline rallies in the Brisbane heat, claiming the set in 40 minutes mostly by taking advantage of Kostyuk’s errors. 

In the second set, Sabalenka infused power groundstrokes and drop shots into her game to pull ahead 4-2, then closed out the match without losing a set all week.

Kostyuk, 23, reached her second WTA 250 final after upsets over top-10 players, including Mirra Andreeva and Jessica Pegula 6-0, 6-3 in the semis. 

She fought hard and well but faltered physically, hitting more unforced errors as the match wore on. This result lifts her into the top 20 ahead of the Australian Open on January 18.

Post-match, a cold exchange marked the rest of the ceremony. Kostyuk skipped mentioning Sabalenka in her speech, focusing on Ukraine: “I play every day with a pain in my heart. There are thousands of people who are without light and warm water right now. It’s minus 20 degrees outside, so it’s very, very painful to live this reality every day.”

Sabalenka now holds 22 WTA titles, matching her men’s counterpart Daniil Medvedev’s haul from the same event. Medvedev beat Brandon Nakashima 6-2, 7-6 (1) to claim the men’s title, his second title in three months. 

​He ended his 882-day drought with no win last October at the Almaty Open. His performance at Brisbane will give him that needed boost ahead of the first grand slam event of the year, set to begin on Sunday, January 18.