MELBOURNE, Australia — (Reuters) — Aryna Sabalenka erred just one point away from her first Grand Slam title. She then faulted again. She frowned. Then she yelled and turned away from the court. She exhaled and wiggled her shoulders.

Clearly, winning the Australian Open was not going to happen without a bit of a fight Saturday night. Aryna Sabalenka had a feeling that was the case. She also knew that all of her efforts to overcome self-doubt and those dreaded double-faults had to pay off at some point. I couldn’t help myself.

So, as she squandered a second match point by missing a forehand and a third by missing another, Aryna Sabalenka did her best to remain calm, something she used to struggle with. She fought until she had a fourth chance to win. Elena Rybakina appeared, and Aryna Sabalenka saw a forehand from her similarly powerful opponent sail long. That was the end of it. Sabalenka won the title with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback victory over Wimbledon champion Rybakina.

“Of course, I was a little nervous before the last game. ‘Nobody tells you it’s going to be easy,’ I kept telling myself. ‘You just have to work for it, work for it, ’til the last point,” Aryna Sabalenka, a 24-year-old Belarussian who is now 11-0 with two titles in 2023 and will move up to No. 2 in the WTA rankings on Monday, said.

“I’m super happy that I was able to handle all those emotions,” she said, “and win this one.”

The only set she has dropped all season was Saturday’s opener against Rybakina, who eliminated No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the fourth round.

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Aryna Sabalenka’s post-match remarks were directed at her coach, Anton Dubrov, and her fitness trainer, Jason Stacy — she referred to them as “the craziest team on tour.”

“We had a lot of ups and downs last year,” said Sabalenka, who was playing in her first major final after going 0-3 in Slam semifinals until this week. “We worked so hard, and you guys deserve this award. It’s about you more than it is about me.”

Of course, she had a lot to do with it. Those 17 aces helped to mitigate the impact of seven double-faults. Those hammered groundstrokes and relentlessly aggressive style resulted in 51 victories, 20 more than Rybakina’s total. Despite her go-for-broke shotmaking, Sabalenka managed to keep her unforced error count to 28. Another important stat: Sabalenka earned 13 break points, converting three of them, including the game-winning one at 4-3 in the final set.

“She played really well today,” said Rybakina, who has lost all four matches she’s played against Sabalenka, all in three sets. “She was strong mentally, physically.”

While the latter has long been a feature of her game, Sabalenka admits that the former has been a problem.

Her most dazzling strength was also her most obvious flaw: her serve. She had a well-known problem with double-faulting, leading the tour in that category last year with nearly 400, including matches with more than 20.

Last August, she agreed to have her mechanics overhauled after much prodding from her group. That, combined with a commitment to trying to keep her emotions in check — she used to work with a sports psychologist but no longer does, claiming she now relies on herself — is paying off big time.

“She didn’t have a great serve last year, but she was super strong and served well this year,” said Rybakina, a 23-year-old from Kazakhstan. “I certainly respect that. I’m aware of how much effort is required.”

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Rybakina and Sabalenka traded serious racket swings for nearly 2 1/2 hours at Rod Laver Arena, with seagulls squawking loudly overhead.

The portions were generous. So big. Sabalenka’s fastest time was 119 mph (121 kph), while Rybakina’s was 121 mph (195 kph) (192 kph).

The points were over in a flash. So quickly: seven of the first thirteen cards were aces.

Sabalenka had only been break six times in 55 service games over the previous two weeks, but Rybakina did it twice in the first set.

And I’ll never do it again. Sabalenka resolved to take more initiative, and the payoff for her high-risk, high-reward attitude proved too much for Rybakina to bear in the final two sets.

Sabalenka had previously stated that she expected to feel nervous. Which makes sense given that this was the most important match of her career.

Sabalenka was able to maintain her composure at the end, when it mattered the most. She dropped to her back on the court after the final point and stayed there for a few moments, her eyes welling up with tears.

That’s a far cry from a year ago at Melbourne Park, when Sabalenka was forced to retire after 15 double-faults in a fourth-round loss.

“I really feel right now that I really needed those tough losses to kind of understand myself a little bit better. It was like a preparation for me,” Sabalenka said at her post-match news conference, her new trophy nearby and a glass of bubbly in her hand. “I actually feel happy that I lost those matches, so right now I can be a different player and just a different Aryna, you know?”