After winning two consecutive Australian Opens, Aryna Sabalenka has now lost two consecutive finals to Elena Rybakina.

Two years after her triumph at the Australian Open, Aryna Sabalenka now faces another two years of pain and is “very frustrated” by a series of missed opportunities in Melbourne.

A year after losing to American Madison Keys in three sets in final, Sabalenka falls 6-4 4-6 6-4 Russian-born Kazakh Elena Rybakina beat Belarusian to win the 2023 title on Saturday.

“I would say I’m really upset with myself that I got another chance,” Sabalenka said.

“I was playing well until a certain point, and then I couldn’t resist her aggression on the court.”

While the Keys onslaught left Sabalenka heartbroken and her racket in tatters, the loss to fifth-seeded Rybakina had its own sting.

The world number one led 3-0 in the third set and was in the lead until former Wimbledon champion Rybakina broke in the fifth game to claim her second Grand Slam trophy.

“She had some wins. I made some unforced errors,” Sabalenka continued.

“Of course, I have regrets. You know, when you’re 3-0 up, it feels like within seconds it’s 3-4 and I was behind with a break. So it was very fast.

“She played great tennis. Maybe not too smart for me, but like I said, today I’m a loser, maybe tomorrow I’m a winner, maybe another loser. Hopefully not. We’ll see.”

It was Sabalenka’s second major loss to Rybakina in as many months, after she was defeated at the WTA Finals at the end of the season.

More worryingly, it was her third loss in the past four Grand Slam finals, with Coco Gauff beating her at last year’s French Open.

Sabalenka entered the Melbourne final without dropping a set and had won 46 of her previous 48 hard-court Grand Slam matches.

Now, Rybakina has dealt a serious blow to Sabalenka’s aura as one of the few players who can match her in strength.

Sabalenka smiled wryly and shrugged during her post-match news conference, but honestly admitted she had been frustrated outside the room.

On the court, she covered her pain with a white towel covering her head, then concentrated on offering cordial congratulations to Rybakina, her most frequent rival on tour.

She comforted herself by saying that, apart from some mistakes in the final set, Rybakina simply took the trophy away from her with the quality of her tennis.

“Even in this final, I felt like I played great. I was fighting. I tried my best and she was a better player today,” Sabalenka said.

“So I don’t know. We’ll talk to the team. Now they’re trying to avoid me because they find it’s not healthy to be around me right now.”