Elena Rybakina arrived in Melbourne unbeaten in sets through the early rounds, then defeated Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-1 in the quarterfinals, beat Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-6 (7) in the semifinals and overcame Aryna Sabalenka in a three-set final, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, to claim the trophy.

The victory marked her second Grand Slam title, her first coming at Wimbledon in 2022. She joined a short list of active players with multiple majors since 2022, alongside Sabalenka, Swiatek and Coco Gauff, and became one of only three active women to have Grand Slam titles on both grass and hard courts, alongside Venus Williams and Swiatek. She is the only active woman to have won both Wimbledon and the Australian Open.

Rybakina also became the first player in eight years to win the WTA Finals and the Australian Open back-to-back, a sequence last achieved when Caroline Wozniacki won the 2017 WTA Finals and then the 2018 Australian Open. The Australian Open added to her career total, bringing her to 12 overall titles, including two Grand Slams, a WTA Finals title, two WTA 1000s, five WTA 500s and two WTA 250s.

Her final brought her streak of finals victories to five in a row, a run that began in Stuttgart in 2024 and included three titles in 2025 (Strasbourg, Ningbo and the WTA Finals). She improved head-to-heads versus Swiatek and Sabalenka to 6-6 and 7-8, respectively, and is a combined 9-4 against Swiatek and Sabalenka while they were ranked No. 1 (4-1 versus Swiatek as No. 1 and 5-3 versus Sabalenka as No. 1).

She is the only player with Grand Slam wins over both Swiatek and Sabalenka while they were No. 1, and the only player to beat Sabalenka twice in Australia since the start of 2023. Rybakina is now 9-6 versus No. 1s and, at 60%, holds the best career winning percentage against No. 1s in WTA rankings history (minimum 10 matches). She extended a 10-match winning streak against Top 10 players, won 20 of her last 21 matches and sits at 38-7 since the end of Wimbledon last year. She led the tournament with 47 aces and leads the WTA for 2026 with 69 aces so far. The title moved her ranking from No. 5 back to her career-high No. 3.

Oleksandra Oliynykova continued an eye-catching start to the 2026 season by reaching her first WTA quarterfinal at the Transylvania Open. The 25-year-old followed up her breakout performance at the 2026 Australian Open with a straight-sets victory over No. 8 seed Anna Bondar, 6-4, 6-4.

Oliynykova declined to shake Bondar’s hand after the match, a decision she said was made prior to the contest because of Bondar’s participation in a 2022 Russian tournament. The North Palmyra Trophies, held six months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was sponsored by Gazprom, which Oliynykova described as “one of the key financial pillars of Russia’s war machine.”

She explained the moral basis for her stance in a statement. “These are the same funds Russia uses to kill and maim Ukrainian women and children, and to destroy our families and cities,” said the 25-year-old. “From a moral standpoint, accepting Gazprom money in December 2022 is equivalent to playing in Nazi Germany in 1941 and being paid with property taken from victims of death camps. The same evil—just 80 years later.”

Oliynykova said she would have shaken Bondar’s hand if the Hungarian had issued an apology, but none was given and Oliynykova advanced. Earlier in the week she won her first WTA main-draw match in Cluh Napoca, recovering from a set down to eliminate Mayar Sherif.

Her run at the Transylvania Open is projected to lift her to a career-high ranking of No. 78, with the possibility of moving higher if she wins her quarterfinal match. The result builds on the momentum she generated in Melbourne, where she played an entertaining first-round match against defending champion Madison Keys and drew notice for temporary face tattoos.

Oliynykova’s performances this season have combined on-court progress with a public stance on matters she regards as morally significant for Ukrainians.

Novak Djokovic did not claim what would have been the 25th Grand Slam title, falling to Carlos Alcaraz in four sets in the final, but his run in Melbourne reconfigured several all-time marks. A first-round 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over Pedro Martinez made him only the second player, male or female, to reach 100 career wins at the Australian Open, behind Roger Federer, who finished with 102. Serena Williams sits next with 92.

With 101 wins at Roland Garros and 102 at Wimbledon, Djokovic became the first player in tennis history to register 100 or more career wins at three different Grand Slams. He remains two wins shy of 100 at the US Open, where he has 95 career wins.

The opening victory extended a streak to 76 consecutive first-round Grand Slam wins, the longest in the Open Era. His last first-round exit came in 2006 against Paul Goldstein. An identical 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 second-round win over Francesco Maestrelli stretched his run to 64 straight victories across the opening two rounds of majors and left him 32-0 against qualifiers at Grand Slams. Maestrelli had qualified and beaten Terence Atmane in the first round.

A 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4) third-round victory over Botic van de Zandschulp made Djokovic the first player, male or female, to reach 400 career Grand Slam match wins. That result also marked his 70th career appearance in a Grand Slam round of 16, surpassing Federer’s 69, and improved his Australian Open third-round record to 18-0, with a 52-5 set record in those matches.

Jakub Mensik’s withdrawal before the fourth round due to an abdominal injury advanced Djokovic into a 16th Australian Open quarterfinal, a men’s record, and his 65th Grand Slam quarterfinal overall. Lorenzo Musetti retired in the quarters, and Djokovic then defeated Jannik Sinner in the semifinal, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, ending Sinner’s 19-match Australian Open winning streak and several other streaks Sinner held.

That semifinal was Djokovic’s 20th Top 5 win at the Australian Open, tying Rafael Nadal (at Roland Garros) for the most career Top 5 wins by a man at a single major in ATP rankings history since 1973. The victory was also his 104th match win in Melbourne, two clear of Federer, and put him into an 11th Australian Open final and a 38th Grand Slam final.

At 38, he became the oldest man in the Open Era to reach the Australian Open final and the oldest man at a major since Ken Rosewall reached finals as a 39-year-old in 1974. This is the record-extending 17th different season in which he has reached at least one major final, doing it in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and now 2016. He has reached 38 finals in the 81 majors he has played and 38 finals in the last 70 majors he has played, a stretch dating back to the 2007 US Open. The run also returned the 24-time Grand Slam champion to the Top 3 in the rankings; he had spent a record 428 career weeks at No. 1 and had been oscillating between No. 4 and No. 7 for the previous 16 months, but he moved back to No. 3 for the first time since the two weeks of the 2024 US Open.