Aryna Sabalenka still owns Australia, even if she suffered a surprising loss in the final of the Australian Open in 2025. She simply doesn't lose on the continent very much. The WTA No. 1 should be expected to be the heavy favorite at the first major of 2026, too.
In her warm-up tournament to the Grand Slam, Sabalenka defeated Madison Keys in the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International. Keys beat Sabalenka in Melbourne last, yet to take her first major trophy, and maybe Sabalenka will use that as inspiration moving forward. Not in Brisbane, though.
After beating the American 6-3 6-3, the Belarusian was asked if she sought redemption in the victory. The short answer was not really. After all, if Sabalenka is truly seeking redemption, that would not come before the Australian Open. That is a tournament that really matters compared to the 500 event in Brisbane.
Aryna Sabalenka didn't think about redemption in beating Madison Keys at the Brisbane International
Sabalenka said in her on-court interview after defeating Keys, "I was just trying to play my best tennis, just trying to play point by point, and when I won the match, of course, I was super happy, but I didn’t really have the throwback into the Australian Open last year, to be honest. I don’t know why."
She likely does know why, however. The venue is completely different, and, no offense to Brisbane, but the importance of the tournament is completely different. Winning in Brisbane would be great, but winning in Melbourne would add an additional 700 points to her WTA leading total (she received 1,300 for being the runner-up in 2025 and would get 2,000 by winning this year).
She would also gain a bit over $4 million in Australian dollars. That is $8,113,899 in the Belarusian ruble. In other words, that could go a long way toward buying a lot of gifts for her team and a few houses. Or whatever she wants to do with the money, of course.
Aryna Sabalenka will be the top seed when the Australian Open begins on January 17. The expectation should be that she is in the final on January 31. She might hope, without saying so, that Madison Keys at some point gets in her way of her third Aussie Open win.
Before she gets there, however, she still has business to do in Brisbane. She will play Karolina Muchova in the semifinals.