Twitter Celebrates Aryna Sabalenka for Winning Australian Open over Elena Rybakina

Aryna Sabalenka secured her first career Grand Slam singles title Saturday, outlasting Elena Rybakina to win the 2023 Australian Open final in three sets.

No. 5 seed Sabalenka used her dominant serve and trademark power to erase a one-set deficit and prevail 4-6, 6-3, 6-4:

Appearing in her first career Grand Slam final, the 24-year-old native of Belarus showed remarkable mettle and was praised by many for playing the best match and tournament of her entire career:

While it would have been easy to fold down one set to 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina, Sabalenka elevated her level of play over the final two sets and imposed her will, firing off 12 aces and 39 winners across the last two sets.

A common sentiment on Twitter after Sabalenka's win was how impressive it was for her to overcome numerous professional and personal challenges in order to reach the top of her sport:

Congratulations were also in order for Rybakina, who hit 31 winners of her own but ran into a buzzsaw in Melbourne:

Sabalenka has been playing at near an elite level for the past few years, but closing the deal at Grand Slams had proven elusive until Saturday.

She fell in the semifinals of both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2021 and suffered the same fate at the 2022 U.S. Open, before finally breaking through at the 2023 Aussie Open.

Sabalenka's top-flight power plays well on both hard courts and grass, so she figures to be viewed as a legitimate contender at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open later this year.

Clay isn't her specialty, as evidenced by getting ousted in the third round at the French Open in each of the past three years, but with the confidence acquired from winning the Australian Open, it isn't outside the realm of possibility that she could go on a deep run in Paris as well.

Now, Sabalenka has an impressive 12 career WTA singles titles to her credit, including two this year before the calendar even turns to February.

Sabalenka has long been viewed as a player with the same type of potential as Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova or Victoria Azarenka due to her height and power, and she showed at the Aussie Open that she is finally starting to realize it.