Aryna Sabalenka warned she was only going to get better as the top seed recovered from a slow start to launch her Australian Open with a straight-sets win on Sunday.

Aryna Sabalenka beat Karolina Muchova in straight sets to reach her third Brisbane International final in a row on Saturday, a week ahead of the Australian Open.

World number one Aryna Sabalenka said she still had room for improvement after a second dominant win in the Brisbane International on Thursday.

Aryna Sabalenka said her much-maligned exhibition match against Nick Kyrgios had paid dividends as she demolished Cristina Bucsa on Tuesday to launch her Australian Open preparations.

World number one Aryna Sabalenka Thursday said she wants a rematch of her "Battle of the Sexes" showdown with Nick Kyrgios so she can get revenge.

Critics had warned that the match risked trivialising the women's game.

Nick Kyrgios beat women's world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the "Battle of the Sexes" on Sunday, in a highly-publicised showdown with modified rules that divided tennis fans.

Sunday's showdown between four-times Grand Slam champion Sabalenka and former world number 13 Kyrgios is seen by many as entertainment, but critics believe it risks undermining women's tennis by trivialising decades of progress toward equality.

World number one Aryna Sabalenka weighed into the participation of transgender athletes in women's sport, saying it would be unfair for women to face "biological men" in professional tennis.

Elena Rybakina clinched her biggest title since Wimbledon in 2022 by defeating world number one Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) at the WTA Finals in Riyadh on Saturday.

World number one Aryna Sabalenka told AFP that she needs to improve her tennis "in literally everything" and how Novak Djokovic is helping her do it on and off the court.

For the second consecutive Grand Slam, Amanda Anisimova found herself tantalisingly close to etching her name into the tennis history books – only to watch it slip away in straight sets.

Three years after almost walking away from the sport in frustration, Aryna Sabalenka cemented her status as the world's best player with her victory at the US Open.

Amanda Anisimova will bid to crown her improbable redemption mission at the US Open on Saturday as world number one Aryna Sabalenka seeks to grab her final chance of the year to win a Grand Slam.

The Sabalenka-Kyrgios showdown echoes the famous 1973 "Battle of the Sexes" exhibition match, when Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in a key moment as the push for women's rights gained ground.

Sabalenka now has a chance to become the first woman to successfully defend the title since Serena Williams sealed a hat-trick of victories in 2014.

Mercurial Australian Nick Kyrgios claims he will easily beat women's world number one Aryna Sabalenka in a "Battle of the Sexes" showdown that could be played next year.

Sabalenka beat Pegula in the 2024 final in New York but the undisputed women's number one is yet to add to her Grand Slam collection this year, losing in two finals.

Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic edged closer to a semifinal showdown at the US Open on Friday as Aryna Sabalenka avenged the memory of a bitter defeat to power into the last 16.

Aryna Sabalenka launched the defence of her US Open crown with a battling victory on Sunday as American men's hopes Taylor Fritz and Blake Shelton advanced safely.