No. 5 seed Elena Rybakina powered into her third career Grand Slam final, and first in three years, with a 6-3, 7-6(7) defeat of No. 6 seed Jessica Pegula at the Australian Open after saving two set points in the second-set tiebreak.

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Rybakina had to hold off a late-stage comeback attempt by Pegula, who was bidding to become the first woman in the Open Era to reach her first two major finals after turning 30 years old. The 2024 US Open runner-up saved three match points serving down 5-3 in the second set, then broke Rybakina twice as the Kazakhstani served for the match at 5-4 and 6-5.

However, Rybakina edged a knife-edge tiebreak with clutch tennis, winning the last two points of the match with her sixth ace of the day, then her sixth return winner of the day.

Rybakina improved to 4-3 overall against Pegula in their first meeting on the Grand Slam stage.

Flashbacks to Blinkova battle: Two years ago, Rybakina suffered a heartbreaking 6-4, 4-6, 7-6[20] loss to Anna Blinkova in the second round here — with the 22-20 final-set tiebreak the longest ever at a Grand Slam. In her on-court interview, she admitted that she had been thinking about this match as the second set grew tighter.

“It was really, really stressful,” Rybakina said. “I had some epic tiebreak here a couple years ago and lost it … a little flashback came. But I’m super happy that in the end it turned my way.”

Blockbuster rematch set for final: It will be 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina’s second Australian Open final, and she will face the same player she met in her first. In 2023, Aryna Sabalenka got the upper hand 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to claim her first of four major crowns so far. The World No. 1 still leads their head-to-head 8-6, including 5-4 on outdoor hard courts. However, Rybakina leads the series 3-1 in finals, including a 6-3, 7-6(0) win in their most recent meeting in the 2025 WTA Finals Riyadh title match.

“It was a great battle we played,” Rybakina said, recalling the 2023 final. “Just in the end she played a bit better. She won that match, very deserved. I want to enjoy the final and hopefully I’m gonna serve better than today and that will help me.”

Key stats ahead of the final: Rybakina and Sabalenka are the fourth pair of players to meet in multiple Australian Open finals this century, following Jennifer Capriati and Martina Hingis (2001, 2002), Serena Williams and Venus Williams (2003, 2017) and Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova (2007, 2015). There is only one other pair of active players that has met in multiple Grand Slam finals — Sabalenka and Coco Gauff (US Open 2023, Roland Garros 2025).

Neither Rybakina nor Sabalenka have dropped a set this fortnight. They are the first pair of Grand Slam finalists to have reached the title match without either losing a set since Serena Williams and Venus Williams at Wimbledon 2008, and the first at the Australian Open since Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters in 2004. They are the 23rd pair of Grand Slam finalists in the Open Era who have got to the title match without either losing a set.

“It’s nice statistic, for sure,” Rybakina said. “I think for me it’s important that I started this tournament maybe not at my best form, but throughout the tournament it improved, and I played better each match. For me, it’s also little success that I didn’t drop a set. We did a great job with the team that actually, let’s say, not maybe my best, but almost the best form, it happened here in Australia at the Grand Slam, and I’m playing the final.”

Rybakina has now won 19 of her past 20 matches since falling to Sabalenka in last October’s Wuhan quarterfinals. Following that tournament, the 26-year-old won Ningbo, reached the Tokyo semifinals (giving Belinda Bencic a walkover), won the WTA Finals Riyadh and reached the Brisbane quarterfinals to tie her career-best winning streak at 13 in a row. That was snapped by Karolina Muchova, but Rybakina has swiftly regained her momentum in Melbourne. Since Wuhan, she has also won nine straight matches against Top 10 opponents.

Rybakina is guaranteed to return to the Top 3 in the PIF WTA Rankings next week for the first time since January 2024. She will be ranked No. 3 behind Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek regardless of the final result.

How Rybakina held off Pegula: Rybakina may have expressed dissatisfaction with her serve afterwards, but for much of the match she put on a serving clinic.

Despite only landing 48% of her first serves in the opening set, Rybakina still only dropped six points behind either delivery, and did not face break point. Having broken Pegula in the second game, Rybakina sat on that lead to cruise to the first set. The same pattern seemed set to repeat when she broke Pegula for 2-1 in the second set, threading a pass off a tentative volley from the American to bring up break point and then slamming a return winner to convert it.

Even when Pegula broke back for 2-2, Rybakina stepped up to snuff out the momentum shift, regaining the break immediately and building a 5-3 lead.

That’s where the match lit up, though. Rybakina failed to convert three match points, going long with a backhand on the first and then missing two inside-in forehand attempts on the next two. Handed a lifeline, Pegula — who had been throwing in high balls, short slices and net charges in a bid to switch up the dynamic — grabbed it. She smacked a forehand winner down the line, then a backhand return winner, en route to levelling at 5-5.

“Sometimes when you’re on the brink of losing everything, you get a little clarity because you’re kind of just like, ‘Screw it, I’m just going to try and stay in this,'” Pegula said. “I played a couple of really good points to save the match points, and, you know, she missed a couple short balls, and it just kind of gave me a little bit of rhythm, a couple free points to take some pressure off. I honestly just felt like I started figuring out what I needed to do right at the end.”

A nervy pair of breaks followed as Rybakina’s first-serve percentage continued to dip. In the ensuing tiebreak, Pegula continued with her bold, aggressive play — but after Rybakina saved the first with a forehand winner, Pegula netted her own forehand on the second. It was Rybakina’s turn to grab an opportunity, and she slammed the door shut in emphatic fashion.