Understated triumph: Elena Rybakina wins the Australian Open with calm precision

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The extreme nervous tension. The adrenalin. Elena Rybakina felt it all as she stood at the baseline on match point, relying on one of the best tools at her disposal to clinch the Australian Open title.

“Even maybe (my) face didn’t show, but inside it was a lot of emotions,” Rybakina recalled of that ace, cooly and matter-of-factly served, that gave top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka no chance of extending the contest.

The 26-year-old Rybakina clearly isn't one for euphoric, jubilant celebrations, as tennis rivals and observers noted in her run to the Wimbledon title in 2022.

After ending any lingering doubts that she'd ever be able to add another major title with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win Saturday over the world No. 1, her reserved and understated reaction was again a defining feature.

Expect to see more of it — the winning part, not demonstrative celebrations. It's her secret to success.

Within three months, she has won the WTA Finals, beating Sabalenka to collect a record $5.2 million in prize money, and, more importantly in tennis terms, added another of the sport's four most treasured trophies.

The No. 5 seed has shrugged off any doubt that she's a top contender for the biggest titles with a run that included second-week victories over No. 1 Sabalenka, a four-time major winner and four-time runner-up, No. 2 Iga Świątek, a six-time major winner, and No. 6-ranked Jessica Pegula.

“Of course, they’re tough opponents, and they have great results, and for so long they are at the top and its stable,” she said. “Yeah, it’s a lot of tough matches I had here — I’m glad that the opportunities which I was getting during the match, I managed to take it.”

She'll return to No. 3 in the rankings next week.

Rybakina's resurgence is coming off a 2025 season that was interrupted by the monthslong suspension of her coach by the WTA and up-and-down form.

Rybakina has been working with Stefano Vukov since 2019. Most recently, she said, clear communication has been the key in preparation and competition.

Her support team give her the information — there's an almost unending stream of technical and tactical advice from the coach’s box during her matches —- and she processes it in real time and works it out on court.

Her first real interactions with anyone other than Sabalenka after the victory were with her support team in the courtside seating.

First she hugged Vukov. Then, one-by-one, she hugged the other three.

After winning Wimbledon in 2022 and losing the 2023 Australian Open final to Sabalenka, Rybakina's form went hot and cold.

While Sabalenka and Świątek were able to win majors and stay at the top, some wondered whether Rybakina would ever return to being a real threat for the majors.

“I always believed that I can come back to the level I was,” she said. “Of course, we all have ups and downs. Like I think everyone. I thought maybe I will never be again in the final or even get a trophy, but it’s all about the work.

“I think we’ve been putting a lot of work in with the team, and they were also very supportive — in the moments when I was maybe not that positive, they would be helping out on the side.”

She has now won 20 of her last 21 matches. In her most recent matches against Top 10 players, she's 10-0.

“Of course, when you getting after some wins, big wins against top players,” she said. “Then you start to believe more, you get more confident.”

And then, there's timing.

“I’m just very proud of the work we did with the team, and actually that I found my kind of best form here at the Grand Slam,” said Rybakina, who was born in Moscow but plays for Kazakhstan. “It’s a win for all the team, all the people who support me.”

Her run to the 2022 Wimbledon title was memorable for its understatedness in the home of lawn tennis, where she was eventually able to shed some tears in the champion's news conference. “You wanted some emotion!” she said back then.

On Saturday night, she raised a glass when the tournament director proposed a toast at her official champion's news conference. She smiled and took a small sip.

On Sunday morning, dressed in a stylish long red dress and her hair out, she held the trophy again and smiled for the cameras on a grassy bank of the Yarra River. Then she prepared for her next flight.

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

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts after losing to Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in the women's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan poses with Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup on the banks of the Yarra River the morning after defeating Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the women's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan takes a selfie as she poses with Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup on the banks of the Yarra River the morning after defeating Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the women's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan holds a glass of champagne as she sits next to the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup at a press conference after defeating Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the women's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan poses with Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup on the banks of the Yarra River the morning after defeating Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the women's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Democrat Christian Menefee won a Texas U.S. House seat in a special election Saturday that will narrow Republicans’ already-slim majority, telling President Donald Trump that the Democratic district “topples corrupt presidencies.”

Menefee, the Harris County attorney, prevailed in a runoff against Amanda Edwards, a former Houston City Council member. He will replace the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, a former Houston mayor, who died in March 2025.

The seat representing the heavily Democratic Houston-based district has been vacant for nearly a year.

Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott didn’t schedule the first round of voting until November. Menefee and Edwards were the top vote-getters in a 16-candidate, all-parties primary. They advanced to a runoff because no candidate won a majority of the vote.

Speaking to supporters at his victory party, Menefee promised to fight for universal health insurance, seek to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and “tear ICE up from the roots.”

He also addressed Trump directly after noting that one of the district's most storied representatives, Democrat Barbara Jordan, was an eloquent voice for President Richard Nixon's impeachment ahead of his 1974 resignation.

“The results here tonight are a mandate for me to work as hard as I can to oppose your agenda, to fight back against where you’re taking this country and to investigate your crimes," Menefee said.

Menefee will fill the remainder of Turner's term, which ends when a new Congress is sworn in to office in January 2027.

Abbott had argued that Houston officials needed the six months between Turner’s death and the first round of voting to prepare for the special election, but Democrats criticized the long wait as a move designed to give the GOP a slightly bigger cushion in the House for difficult votes.

While campaigning Saturday, Edwards, 44, referenced the long vacancy in a video she posted to social media, saying voters have gone too long without a voice in Washington. Later, she told supporters at her watch party that the race “never was about winning a particular seat.”

“This journey has always been about creating a community where every single person in it, no matter what their background, no matter where they were from, no matter where they lived, would have the opportunity to thrive,” she said. “That means access to health care. That means education. That means economics.”

Menefee, 37, was endorsed by several prominent Texas Democrats including former congressman Beto O’Rourke and Rep. Jasmine Crockett. He was joined Saturday by Crockett, who is running for the U.S. Senate.

Menefee ousted an incumbent in 2020 to become Harris County’s first Black county attorney, representing it in civil cases, and he has joined legal challenges of President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration.

Edwards served four years on the Houston City Council starting in 2016. She ran for U.S. Senate in 2020 but finished fifth in a 12-person primary. She unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in the 2024 primary, and when Lee died that July, local Democrats narrowly nominated Turner over Edwards as Lee’s replacement.

Menefee finished ahead of Edwards in the primary, but Edwards picked up the endorsement of the third-place finisher, state Rep. Jolanda Jones, who said Edwards had skills “best suited to go against Trump.”

After Saturday, yet another election lies ahead in little over a month. Both Menefee and Edwards are on the ballot again on March 3, when they will face Democratic Rep. Al Green in another election — this one a Democratic primary in a newly drawn 18th congressional district, for the full term that starts in 2027.

GOP lawmakers who control Texas state government drew a new map last summer for this year’s midterms, pushed by Trump to create five more winnable seats for Republicans to help preserve their majority.

Winter weather added to voters' confusion, forcing local officials to cancel two days of advance voting this week, prompting civil rights group to go to court to win a two-day extension, into Thursday.

Texas Congressional Candidate Christian Menefee speaks to supporters during his watch party at The Post Houston on Election Day, in Houston, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/ Karen Warren)

Texas Congressional Candidate Christian Menefee speaks to supporters during his watch party at The Post Houston on Election Day, in Houston, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/ Karen Warren)

Texas Congressional Candidate Amanda Edwards waves at a voter at a polling location at Acres Homes MultiService Center on Election Day, in Houston, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/ Karen Warren)

Texas Congressional Candidate Christian D. Menefee holds up one of his flyers as a voter passes by in a car while he visited a polling location at Acres Homes MultiService Center on Election Day, in Houston, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/ Karen Warren)

Texas Congressional Candidate Amanda Edwards waves at a voter at a polling location at Acres Homes MultiService Center on Election Day, in Houston, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/ Karen Warren)

Texas Congressional Candidate Christian D. Menefee gets a photo with poll worker, Jessica Barraza, as he visited a polling location at Acres Homes MultiService Center on Election Day, in Houston, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/ Karen Warren)

Texas Congressional Candidate Christian D. Menefee shakes hands with Patrick Edge, a poll worker for Amanda Edwards, as he visited a polling location at Acres Homes MultiService Center on Election Day, in Houston, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/ Karen Warren)