An emotional Aryna Sabalenka battled back from a set down to beat Elena Rybakina in women's final and win the Australian open for her first grand slam title. The hard-hitting Belarusian collapsed to the court in tears after winning 4-6, 6-3 and 6-4 against the Wimbledon champion in a two hours and 28 minutes arm-wrestle on rod laver arena. Rybakina cruised through the first set in 34 minutes but Sabalenka scrapped her way back in a 57-minute second set to take it to a nervy decider. It was then a case of which of the big servers would blink first in a toe-to-toe battle. At 3-3 Rybakina could not find enough first serves and though she saved two break points, a third was too much and Sabalenka had the finish line in sight. An ace took her to 5-3 and Rybakina held to force Sabalenka to test her nerves and serve for the championship. She was up to the challenge, but needed four match points after a display where she hit an astonishing 51 winners and 17 aces to edge past the big-serving Rybakina. An 11th straight win of the year also means the Sabalenka will return to a career-high ranking of number two behind Iga Swiatek.