World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka laid down an Australian Open marker as she brushed aside Marta Kostyuk in the Brisbane International final before making a pointed gesture towards her opponent in the post-match celebrations.
Sabalenka was too strong for Kostyuk, retaining her title in Brisbane with a 6-4 6-3 triumph in just 1hr 17mins before looking down the court at her opponent and kissing both biceps – a likely nod to previous comments made by the Ukrainian that Sabalenka possesses higher testosterone levels than other female players.
Kostyuk has insisted those comments from an interview last year have been taken out of context but there was already tension between the pair after she refused to shake Sabalenka’s hand following a match at the French Open in 2023, as the world No 1 is from Belarus, who continue to support Russia in the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The exchange resulted in a frosty post-match presentation in Brisbane – during the trophy ceremony, Kostyuk spoke passionately about her homeland but declined to mention Sabalenka by name.
“I want to say a few words about Ukraine,” Kostyuk said. “I play every day with a pain in my heart. There are thousands of people who are without light and warm water right now, it's minus 20 degrees outside right now, so it's very, very painful to live this reality every day.
“I was incredibly moved and happy to see so many Ukrainian fans and flags here this week – Slava Ukraini.”
Sabalenka, meanwhile, congratulated Kostyuk, stating she hoped they would meet in another final soon. She also thanked her team and took a cheeky dig at her boyfriend Georgios Frangulis during her victory speech for having not proposed to her yet.
“Thank you to my team for handling me,” said Sabalenka. “I'm really the toughest one to handle, and you guys are the toughest people in the world if you can handle me.
“Thank you to my boyfriend. Hopefully, soon I’ll call you something else, right? Let’s just put a bit of extra pressure on, right?”
The Brisbane International is a warm-up for the Australian Open, which begins next Sunday (18 January), where Sabalenka will try to reclaim the grand slam title she won in 2023 and 2024.
Kostyuk went hard early on by attacking Sabalenka’s second serve, clawing back an early break with sublime drop shots that briefly rattled the world’s top-ranked player but the Belarusian dominated the baseline rallies to clinch the opening set in 40 minutes.
As Kostyuk wilted under the physical strain, Sabalenka accelerated in the second set as a mix of powerful groundstrokes and deceptive drop shots upped the Ukrainian’s error count and saw her close out victory.
That ensured a tournament victory without dropping a single set, for her 22nd WTA title.
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