Brisbane International | Aryna Sabalenka retains title as Marta Kostyuk's dream run thwarted

Aryna Sabalenka has opened the new season as she means to go on taking down Marta Kostyuk in straight sets to win the Brisbane International final and retain the title heading towards the Australian Open where unlike last year she is aiming to prove a point.

Last year she was pretty imperious as she won Brisbane and went into the Australian Open as the favourite and did so going into the final there too but Madison Keys had other ideas as she became a shock champion but she has done what she has needed to here as she saw off Kostyuk 6-4, 6-3.

Sabalenka has won 13 of 14 matches in Brisbane and held a 4-0 head-to-head advantage over Kostyuk going into the tie with the duo not having much love lost. Kostyuk in particular of course doesn't shake hands of players who come from Russia or Belarus.

She famously fell out with her good friend at the time in Paula Badosa because she became best friends with Sabalenka so it is very much a battle which is marred in a dislike of each other which perhaps doesn't really help the cause of Kostyuk either as she was well beaten here. She perhaps went into this tie with more hope than she ever has before after wins over Anisimova who is a thorn in the side of Sabalenka as a player who can match her power for power as well as Andreeva and Pegula.

But it was one way traffic for Sabalenka. Kostyuk lost her serve straight away in not a great sign for her game as she went 40-30 down on her serve and despite saving it, she was soon broken as Sabalenka did so on her fourth attempt. But Kostyuk did get an early lifeline which brought it back towards serve as she broke for 3-2 in the opener before holding for parity pretty emphatically. Game on?

Not really as it merely put it back on serve and Sabalenka produced the crushing blow upping the anti and sealing the opening set 6-4 with a break of serve at the dying embers after both had produced crushing service holds after the break and made it so neither could really give an inch but Kostyuk gave one to her opponent who ran a mile and took the opening set.

It was a bit of a carbon copy but a lot more dominant for Sabalenka as she went for the match. She broke again at 2-0 to go ahead and went into a 3-0 lead from there. Sabalenka could've had an even more crushing win as she had a break chance to go 5-1 up but Kostyuk snuffed it out and went 4-2 down. But she wasn't able to trouble the Sabalenka service games which became a huge problem in her trying to mount a comeback. She went 5-2 down and the writing was on the wall. She held one more time but Sabalenka was in no mood to give anything back as she held for 6-3 to seal the title. A 22nd WTA singles title and one of her best weeks in sometime, Kostyuk can leave the tournament with her head held high.

But it is very much a problem she now has is that hse can beat top 10 players but not the biggest of all who she still has an issue thwarting and while that is the case, a breakthrough might not be on the cards. Onto Adelaide.