Thrilling Victory: Aryna SABALENKA clinches 'Riyadh Season' exhibition win over Ons JABEUR in three-set showdown

Aryna Sabalenka played her last exhibition of the year against Ons Jabeur and secured the victory with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 score at the Riyadh Season Tennis Cup in Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia. The exhibition tournament started on December 26th with the women's match, while on December 27th, the world No. 1 and 2, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, will face each other.

This is the last exhibition Sabalenka played as the former world No. 1, and she will kick off the season in a few days at the Brisbane International Open. On the other hand, Jabeur is the only top-50 player who will arrive at the Australian competitions without prior matches, as she will be in Melbourne during the first weeks of January preparing for the tournament through training sessions.

The 2023 Australian Open champion leads the head-to-head against Jabeur 4-2 in official matches. They faced each other twice this year. First, the Tunisian showcased her skills on grass and defeated Sabalenka in the Wimbledon semifinals in a thrilling match by 6-8, 7-4, 6-3 to advance to her third Grand Slam final and second at SW19, but she fell to the Czech Marketa Vondrousova.

The second encounter of the year was in the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Open, this time Sabalenka prevailed with a 7-5, 6-2 victory but lost in the semifinals to Karolina Muchova.

The Belarusian ended the year as the world No. 2 after losing in the WTA Finals semifinals to Iga Swiatek and relinquishing the top ranking to the Polish player. Sabalenka faces the challenging task at the beginning of the year to defend the points she earned for the titles in Adelaide and the Australian Open, her first Grand Slam. Failure to defend the title will lead to a drop in the rankings.

Sabalenka will play from January in Brisbane, where she is the top seed, sharing the main draw with Elena Rybakina (world No. 4), Karolina Muchova (No. 8), Madison Keys (No. 12), and Jelena Ostapenko (No. 13).