World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka captured her second Brisbane International title to enjoy a perfect start to her 2025 Hologic WTA Tour season. On Sunday, Sabalenka came back to defeat 21-year-old qualifier Polina Kudermetova 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the final to secure her 18th career title.
Sabalenka won her first Brisbane title in 2023 when the event was held in Adelaide. In the final, she beat another qualifier, Linda Noskova. Last year, she fell just short of Elena Rybakina in the final.
Brisbane is Sabalenka's fourth title on Australian soil. She will next take that confidence to Melbourne, where she is the two-time Australian Open defending champion. The 26-year-old is bidding to become the first woman to win three consecutive Australian Opens since Martina Hingis dominated the event from 1997 to 1999.
Seeded No.1 in Brisbane, Sabalenka defeated Renata Zarazua, Yulia Putintseva, Marie Bouzkova, Mirra Andreeva, and Kudermetova.
"I definitely feel my game pretty well," Sabalenka said. "Mentally, and physically I'll be ready to go at the Australian Open. Really happy with the way the week went. Having this trophy going to the major, it's really important."
Kudermetova's breakthrough: 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 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 WTA career.
Kudermetova, who is the younger sister of former No.9 Veronika Kudermetova, showed signs of an impending breakthrough at the end of the 2024 season. She made the quarterfinals in Seoul as a qualifier and then finished her WTA season with a semifinal run in Merida to push her ranking right outside the Top 100.
Anatomy of a comeback: Kudermetova showed tremendous poise in the biggest match of her young career. She refused to capitulate after Sabalenka grabbed an early break, holding her aggressive baseline position to build cumulative rally pressure on the World No.1. Unable to push Kudermetova back into a more defensive position, Sabalenka found it difficult to open up space on the court.
After saving two break points to keep within a break of Sabalenka, Kudermetova broke to level the first set at 3-3 before a poor service game from Sabalenka suddenly gave Kudermetova a set point. Serving down 5-4, Sabalenka played too passively, and Kudermetova broke on her second set point to steal the set.
"I had a break in the first set," Sabalenka said. "I was trying to play too conservative, I would say. I wasn't following the plan. That was the moment where everything clicked for her and she was, like, smashing the ball. Seems like everything is going in. I was like, I cannot do much in this situation."
But after losing her first set of the tournament, Sabalenka quickly reset herself to ensure she would not lose a second. She lost just five points behind her serve in the second set, which allowed her to attack her returns and clean up her baseline game. After forcing the match into a decider, Sabalenka raced for the finish line to close out the 1-hour and 47-minute win.
"In that second set, I just put her under a little pressure," Sabalenka said. "I saw the way she was reacting, the way she was playing. She was rushing things a lot. I was like, I'm just going to stay aggressive, keep pushing, keep swinging the ball, and hopefully, I'll be able to turn around this game."
Clara Tauson of Denmark won her third career Hologic WTA Tour title, and first since 2021, after former World No.1, Naomi Osaka of Japan retired from their ASB Classic final on Sunday due to an abdominal injury.
Osaka held off a late Tauson comeback to clinch the first set 6-4, but the four-time Grand Slam champion took an immediate medical time-out after converting her second set point. After consulting with the trainer, Osaka ended play.
"It’s not the way you want to win any match, and especially not the final," Tauson said after the match. "I felt like I had some more tennis to show today."
It was a quick conclusion to the first meeting between two powerful players, both of whom had ended droughts just to get into this final. Osaka was playing in her first final since 2022, while Tauson had waited even longer, contesting her first tour-level final since 2021.
Tauson is the first player from Denmark to win this title. Her fellow Dane, former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, was a two-time runner-up at this event in 2015 and 2018.
"I’m looking forward to going to Australia," Tauson said. "Hopefully I can back [this] up with some great results there. It’s definitely a nice start to the season with the title, it’s my first one since 2021, so it’s been a while for me."
Tauson rebound continues: Former Junior World No.1 Tauson had a breakthrough season on tour in 2021, where she won two titles and reached an additional final. But injuries over the last few years curtailed her progress and she slid outside of the Top 100 in 2022.
Tauson rebounded last year, making her first Grand Slam Round of 16 at Roland Garros, playing the Olympic Games, and pulling herself back into the Top 50.
Tauson had an eventful trip into this week's final. She saved a match point in her second-round win over 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, then notched two wins on Saturday to make the final, including a rain-interrupted quarterfinal upset of No.1 seed Madison Keys.
Final breakdown: In the final, it was Osaka who got off to a hotter start. She used her power game to great effect, drawing errors from Tauson and breaking the Dane twice en route to 5-1.
But Tauson methodically pulled her way back into the match. Tauson saved a set point at 5-3 with a forehand winner, eventually winning three games in a row and pulling all the way back to 5-4.
Osaka was able to halt Tauson's comeback, slamming a forehand winner of her own to close out the one-set lead. But Osaka was showing signs of discomfort during the break between sets, and the former No.1 decided to pull out of the match.
There were still four impressive wins for Osaka during the tournament, in her first Auckland appearance since her quarterfinal debut in 2017. This week, Osaka reached her first WTA semifinal and final since she gave birth to her daughter Shai in 2023.
Double champions: No.2 seeds Jiang Xinyu and Wu Fang-Hsien took home the doubles title after defeating Sabrina Santamaria and Aleksandra Krunic 6-3, 6-4.