Sabalenka tunes up for Open with Adelaide triumph

Aryna Sabalenka has lifted the Adelaide International trophy in a perfect Australian Open tune-up, one year after sobbing on the same court while suffering through a severe case of serving yips.

The powerful Belarusian revealed a new outlook after her semi-final that transpired from her dramatic Australian summer 12 months ago, including hitting 39 double faults across two losses at both Adelaide events.

Sabalenka’s ability to play through those woes and still make the fourth round at the 2022 Australian Open was a turning point for someone who too often was “crazy about everything”.

Aryna Sabalenka with the trophy after defeating Linda Noskova in the final.Credit: Getty Images

There were few complications on Sunday – in fact, her serve was a decisive factor in victory – as the leading Australian Open title contender completed her flawless week with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) win over teenage Czech qualifier Linda Noskova.

Sabalenka hammered an extraordinary 44 winners and won 29 of 31 first-serve points as she secured her 11th WTA singles title and first in almost two years.

“It was a great week [and] I enjoyed every moment here in Adelaide, so I’m just super happy with my performance this week,” Sabalenka said.

“It’s a little bit easier to play when you’re serving better. I think my serve helped me a lot, today especially.

“I didn’t give her many opportunities on my serve and was able to put her under pressure on her serve, so I think that’s why I won today.”

Aryna Sabalenka plays a backhand on the way to victory.Credit: AP

Sabalenka admitted she briefly reflected on last year’s serving struggles when she went to hit her first second serve of the tournament.

“I thought, ‘Let’s see how it’s going to be this year’,” she said. “I think I served it in. I was like, ‘OK, it’s not going to happen again’. I felt so much relief after that.”

It is the third time in Sabalenka’s career that she will enter the Australian Open off a January title, but her best result at Melbourne Park remains her round-of-16 appearances the last two years.

Noskova, 18, the youngest player in 14 years to reach a WTA 500 level final or better, beat top-10 stars Daria Kasatkina and Ons Jabeur, and dual Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka to earn her shot at Sabalenka.

The newest Czech sensation will climb from No.102 in the rankings to inside the top 60 but will still have to head straight to Melbourne to try to qualify for the Australian Open.

Linda Noskova showed her quality in the decider.Credit: Getty Images

“Amazing tournament. I really played great for the entire tournament and I will just try to keep the level for Melbourne qualies,” Noskova said.

“It was obviously a very tough match today. Aryna played just amazing. I didn’t have a lot of chances. I did have some break points, but she always served her way out of it. That was really tough to beat.”

As for fifth-ranked Sabalenka, her eyes are firmly focused on succeeding Australia’s Ash Barty as Melbourne Park women’s champion.

She has made three grand slam semi-finals in her past five majors, including at her last one at the US Open, on top of upsetting world No.1 Iga Swiatek to reach the decider at last year’s WTA Finals.

Sabalenka looms as arguably Swiatek’s greatest danger as the Polish superstar chases a maiden Australian Open championship.

“You never know. I just feel that I’m ready to show my best, and I’m ready for a big fight. That’s everything what I feel right now,” Sabalenka said.

“I think all of us know that it’s WTA tennis: you never know what’s going to happen. I wish we could predict something, but unfortunately this is not how it works.”

The unflappable Noskova did little wrong in Sunday’s final and even had a break point for a 5-3 second-set lead, only for Sabalenka to crunch two backhands – the first barely clearing the net, then the second for an emphatic winner.

The No.2 seed hit one of her 12 aces to escape the game before it was Noskova’s turn to go into survival mode as Sabalenka belted a flurry of winners but could not quite break her rival’s resistance.

After a series of competitive games, the second set deservedly went to a tie-breaker but by then Noskova was starting to barely hang on – and double faults were getting her into trouble.

That carried into the tie-breaker, where the rising star double-faulted on the first and fifth points, which proved problematic with Sabalenka already taking over from the baseline. Sabalenka double-faulted on her first match point before sending down another big serve to clinch victory.

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