Sabalenka's new mentality faces Rybakina's resolve in Australian Open final, a 2023 rematch

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — When Aryna Sabalenka is really deeply contemplating her Australian Open final rematch with Elena Rybakina, it won't be that breakthrough success in 2023 that she'll be dialing in on.

It won't be the other three Grand Slam finals she's won, either, including the most recent at the U.S. Open. Top-ranked Sabalenka will be trying to derive more motivation from the five finals she lost in 2025.

“I actually know what was wrong in all of those finals that I played and I lost,” Sabalenka said. “I would say that last year was lots of lessons, lots of things to learn about myself, and definitely not going to happen again this season.”

The list of finals losses included the WTA Finals decider in November when she lost in three sets to Rybakina, who took a record $5.2 million in prize money.

Sabalenka was upset in the Australian Open final 12 months ago by Madison Keys, ending her 20-match winning streak at Melbourne Park. She lost the French Open final in three sets to Coco Gauff — after beating Iga Swiatek, winner of the three previous championships at Roland Garros — in the semis. At Wimbledon, she lost in the semifinals to Amanda Anisimova. She also lost finals in Stuttgart and Indian Wells in a year when she won four titles.

“It’s just a different mentality that I will try to have in each final that I play,” the top-ranked Sabalenka said. “I feel like those frustrations were coming from not agreeing of what’s going on in the moment.”

Sabalenka has had to learn to let go of those frustrations, or distractions or things that make her mad, and return her focus solely to winning the next point. She achieved that in her semifinal win over Elina Svitolina, when the chair umpire called her for hindrance in the fourth game — a decision that she said was unprecedented, and which she disputes. Sabalenka broke serve in that game and pretty much dominated the match.

“Right now my mentality is like I’m ready to do whatever, whatever is going to be in that finals, I’m ready to go out there and fight with what I have,” she said. “When I have this mentality, I play my best tennis. That’s my approach to the finals this season.”

Sabalenka is on an 11-match winning streak, after opening the season with a title at the Brisbane International.

She hasn't dropped a set en route to the final, her fourth in succession at the Australian Open, and nor has Rybakina. That hasn't happened at a Grand Slam since 2008.

Another pertinent stat: The same two players appearing in the season-ending championship final one year and the final of the season-opening major the next hasn't happened since 1999-2000.

Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport were involved in that. Hingis' name is prominent this weekend, because she's the last woman to reach four or more consecutive finals in Australia. The only other, in the Open era, was Evonne Goolagong Cawley.

The win in 2023 was Sabalenka's Grand Slam breakthrough, fulfilling the tremendous promise she'd shown but that, until then, was hampered by nerves and inconsistency with her serve.

“I’m not going to like on that final, because me and her, we both are different players,” Sabalenka said. “We went through different things. We’re much stronger mentally and physically, and we’re playing better tennis now.

“I'll approach this as completely different match, and we have long history after that final. So I’ll approach this match as the very first one.”

Rybakina, who was born in Moscow but represents Kazakhstan, will take a similar approach after advancing this time with a semifinal win over Jessica Pegula, conceding she got tight at the end when she was broken twice while serving for the match and took almost a half-hour between her first and winning match points.

Three years ago, the 2022 Wimbledon champion went into the Australian final as the only Grand Slam winner in the match. She took the first set before going down 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

This will be her first major final since then. Rybakina had only advanced past the quarterfinals at the Slams once more — at Wimbledon in 2024 — before arriving in Australia as the reigning WTA Finals champion.

“Yeah, (2023 final) we played here, it was very close. I think I throughout the match of course I had some little opportunities, but in the end of this third set, I think Aryna stepped in. She served much better. Yeah, she deserved that win,” Rybakina said.

“So of course many years passed, a lot of matches has been played. Hopefully with all the experience which I got from this last match, last time final I played here, I can bring it to Saturday's match.

“Yeah, fight till the end, and hopefully this time it’s going to go my way.”

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Elena Rybakina, right, of Kazakhstan is congratulated by Jessica Pegula, left, of the U.S. following their semifinal match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts during her semifinal match against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine during their semifinal match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan serves to Jessica Pegula of the U.S. during their semifinal match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts during her semifinal match against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine during their semifinal match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus celebrates after defeating Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in their semifinal match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened Canada with a 50% tariff on any aircraft sold in the U.S., the latest salvo in his trade war with America’s northern neighbor as his feud with Prime Minister Mark Carney expands.

Trump’s threat posted on social media came after he threatened over the weekend to impose a 100% tariff on goods imported from Canada if it went forward with a planned trade deal with China. But Trump’s threat did not come with any details about when he would impose the import taxes, as Canada had already struck a deal.

In Trump’s latest threat, the Republican president said he was retaliating against Canada for refusing to certify jets from Savannah, Georgia-based Gulfstream Aerospace.

Trump said the U.S., in return, would decertify all Canadian aircraft, including planes from its largest aircraft maker, Bombardier. “If, for any reason, this situation is not immediately corrected, I am going to charge Canada a 50% Tariff on any and all Aircraft sold into the United States of America,” Trump said in his post.

Trump said he is “hereby decertifying" the Bombardier Global Express business jets. There are 150 Global Express aircraft in service registered in the U.S., operated by 115 operators, according to Cirium, the aviation analytics company.

Bombardier and Gulfstream are head-to-head rivals, with the Global series battling for market share against Gulfstream’s latest models.

Spokespeople for Bombardier and Canada’s transport minister didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment Thursday evening.

John Gradek, who teaches aviation management at McGill University, said certification is about safety and it would be unprecedented to decertify for trade reasons.

“Certification is not trivial. It is a very important step in getting planes to operate safely,” Gradek said. “Somebody is not picking on the Gulfstream. Decertification for trade reasons does not happen."

Gradek said many Gulfstreams have been certified for years in Canada.

“This is really a smokescreen that's basically throwing up another red flag in the face of Mr. Carney," Gradek said. “This is taking it to the extreme. This is a new salvo in the trade war."

The U.S. Commerce Department previously put duties on a Bombardier commercial passenger jet in 2017 during the first Trump administration, charging that the Canadian company was selling the planes in America below cost. The U.S. said then that the Montreal-based Bombardier used unfair government subsidies to sell jets at artificially low prices.

The U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington later ruled that Bombardier did not injure U.S. industry.

Bombardier has since concentrated on the business and private jet market in its Global and Challenger families of planes. Both are popular with individual owners and businesses as well as fractional jet companies like NetJets and Flexjet. If Trump cuts off the U.S. market it would be a major blow to the Quebec company.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned Carney on Wednesday that his recent public comments against U.S. trade policy could backfire going into the formal review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the trade deal that protects Canada from the heaviest impacts of Trump’s tariffs.

Carney rejected Bessent’s contention that he had aggressively walked back his comments at the World Economic Forum during a phone call with Trump on Monday.

Carney said he told Trump that he meant what he said in his speech at Davos, and told him Canada plans to diversify away from the United States with a dozen new trade deals.

In Davos at the World Economic Forum last week, Carney condemned economic coercion by great powers on smaller countries without mentioning Trump’s name. The prime minister received widespread praise and attention for his remarks, upstaging Trump at the gathering.

Besides Bombadier, other major aircraft manufacturers in Canada include De Havilland Aircraft of Canada, which makes turboprop planes and aircraft designed for maritime patrols and reconnaissance, and European aerospace giant Airbus. Airbus manufactures its single-aisle A220 commercial planes and helicopters in Canada.

During the Biden administration, the U.S. International Trade Administration touted the interdependence of the U.S. and Canadian aerospace industries and cited a 1980 World Trade Organization agreement that the website of the current U.S. trade representative says “requires signatories to eliminate tariffs on civil aircraft, engines, flight simulators, and related parts and components.”

Gillies contributed to this report from Toronto. AP writers Lisa Leff and Josh Funk contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)