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500 Brisbane International Player News

Sabalenka repeats in Brisbane, dismisses Kostyuk 6-4, 6-3 to claim WTA 500 crown

Sabalenka beat Kostyuk 6-4, 6-3 for the Brisbane WTA 500, her 22nd title; 38-2 in Australia. AO run.

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World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka captured the first title of her 2026 season with a straight-sets victory over Marta Kostyuk, 6-4, 6-3, to win the WTA 500 event in Brisbane. Sabalenka, who also won the tournament last year, did not lose a set all week and did not concede more than four games in any set en route to the trophy.

Kostyuk reached the final after an impressive run in which she took out three Top 10 players in a row—No. 3 Amanda Anisimova, No. 9 Mirra Andreeva and No. 6 Jessica Pegula—in straight sets. In the championship match the two traded early breaks, but Sabalenka broke again to close the first set, secured an early break in the second and held serve from there to finish the match.

The triumph in Brisbane is the 22nd WTA title of Sabalenka’s career and marks the fifth tournament she’s won multiple times, alongside the Australian Open and US Open (twice each) and Madrid and Wuhan (three times each). It also extended her recent supremacy in Australia: she has now won five of the last seven events she has played there and 38 of her last 40 matches in the country.

SABALENKA IN AUSTRALIA SINCE START OF 2023: 38-2. The only two defeats in that stretch were to Elena Rybakina in the 2024 Brisbane final and to Madison Keys in the 2025 Australian Open final.

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After a planned week off from tournaments, Sabalenka will head to the Australian Open as the favorite for the title. The Brisbane victory reinforces her form and provides momentum as she prepares for the Grand Slam start to the season.

500 ATP BMW Open

Ben Shelton Wins BMW Open and Signals Big Clay Ambitions

Shelton won the 2026 BMW Open, earning €478,935, a BMW iX3, Lederhosen and 500 ATP points. Since 2002

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Ben Shelton captured the 2026 BMW Open by Bitpanda, defeating fourth-seeded Flavio Cobolli 6-2, 7-5 in Sunday’s singles final. Playing before packed stands on Center Court at the MTTC Iphitos, Shelton jumped to a 4-0 lead in the opening set and never surrendered his composure.

Cobolli raised his level as the match progressed, but the world No. 6 stood firm, saving all six break points he faced and converting three of nine chances. The match lasted one hour and 30 minutes.

“I came out at a really high level,” said Shelton, who earned his fifth career title and third at ATP 500 level following Tokyo in 2023 and Dallas earlier this year.

“I have done that before against him, but the toughest thing is maintaining it, as he raises his level. I was able to do that in the second set, hanging in there when he played some great tennis, and I came through to win it in straight sets.

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“I am happy with my performance this week. I got better and better as the week went on, and I am pleased with the work my team put in here.”

Shelton received a prize cheque of €478,935, a brand-new BMW iX3 and traditional Bavarian Lederhosen. He also collected 500 ATP Ranking points.

“The car is great. It might be difficult to get it back to Florida, where I live,” Shelton said with a smile.

The Atlanta native now holds the biggest clay-court title by an American man since Andre Agassi captured the ATP Masters 1000 in Rome in 2002, the year Shelton was born. He made clear he sees this victory as part of a broader push on the surface.

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“It’s huge. I have big ambitions on clay – a surface I want to keep improving on each year. It has become one of my favourite surfaces to play on.

“It’s a short season and some of the Americans choose not to play every event. But we had two guys in the quarterfinals of the French Open last year. Success on clay is coming back. I am looking forward to being part of this progression of U.S. men’s tennis on clay. On the women’s side, they have a lockdown as they won the French last year. We as the men have some more to do but we are heading into the right direction. This is just one step in a long swing and let’s see what happens.”

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500 Australian Open Finals

Rybakina secures second Stuttgart title with straight-set win over Muchova

Rybakina claimed her second Stuttgart crown, beating Muchova 7-5, 6-1 to start clay season for Rome

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Elena Rybakina captured her second Porsche Tennis Grand Prix trophy, defeating Karolina Muchova 7-5, 6-1 in a one hour and 18 minute final on Center Court. The top seed overcame a spirited comeback in the first set from the No. 7 seed before asserting control in the second.

Rybakina, the reigning 2026 Australian Open champion, is set to return to No. 1 in the Race to the WTA Finals standings after the victory. Since her major triumph in Melbourne, the 26-year-old produced steady results but had not claimed another title, finishing runner-up to the world No. 1 at the BNP Paribas Open and falling in the Miami Open semifinals.

With Aryna Sabalenka absent from the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix because of injury, Rybakina targeted a strong start to her clay-court season and lost just one set across four matches to complete that mission. She advanced through a third-set tiebreaker against Leylah Fernandez in the quarterfinals, handled No. 6 seed Mirra Andreeva after Andreeva had stunned No. 3 seed Iga Swiatek, and then carried momentum into the final.

Against Muchova, Rybakina raced to a 5-2 lead early in the opening set before Muchova fought back to level at 5-5 and saved two set points as she tried to force a tiebreak. Rybakina converted her third set point to close out the first set and then dominated the second, building a 5-0 advantage. Muchova avoided a bagel with a game for 5-1, but Rybakina served out the match to love.

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Muchova arrived in Stuttgart off a breakthrough season that included her first WTA 1000 title at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open. She had also snapped losing streaks against Coco Gauff and Elina Svitolina en route to the final, and she was the last woman to beat Rybakina before Rybakina went on to win the Australian Open. On Sunday, however, Rybakina’s form proved decisive as she lifted her second Porsche in three years.

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500 ATP Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell

Fils rallies past Rafael Jodar in Barcelona semis to reach 100 career wins

Arthur Fils rallied from a set down to defeat Rafael Jodar in Barcelona semis, his 100th career win.

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Arthur Fils overcame a set deficit to defeat Rafael Jodar in the semifinals of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. The victory marked multiple milestones in a single match for the 21-year-old Frenchman.

Fils erased the early advantage Jodar established when the Spanish teenager took the first set. He recovered by taking the second set 6-3 and then closed out the match 6-2 in the decider. The win ended Jodar’s eight-match winning streak that began with his first ATP title in Marrakech last week and continued with three more wins in Barcelona.

Jodar had also been riding a run of set dominance, having won 13 sets in a row before Fils rallied to halt that sequence. That combination of recent form and momentum made Fils’ comeback more significant.

Most notably, the win was the 100th tour-level victory of Fils’ career. At 21 years old, he became the first man born in 2004 or later to reach 100 tour-level wins. The result advances Fils to the Barcelona final and leaves Jodar’s surge halted at the semifinal stage.

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The match underlined Fils’ capacity to close out big moments against an in-form opponent and provided a notable career landmark in the 2026 season. His progression through an ATP 500 event and the accumulation of 100 tour-level wins underline the trajectory he has followed in recent seasons.

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