Emotions run high and Sabalenka smashes racket after Rybakina clinches US Open

The polarities reversed in set two, as Sabalenka began to get her flamethrower of a forehand working. After almost 90 minutes of play, she finally chiselled out some break points – two in game 10, which she couldn’t convert, but then another in game 12 which set up the decider.

The huge contrast in personalities became all too evident in set three. Sabalenka appeared to be at war with herself, emoting and venting almost as if she were an actress projecting her feelings to the whole of this 24,000-seater stadium. As she faced the prospect of slipping a double-break down, she hunkered down on her haunches in despair.

Meanwhile, Rybakina could have been relaxing in a flotation tank for all the stress she showed. Admittedly, she did hit a couple of double-faults as she served out for victory, but she also came up with two aces and two forehand winners in the same game.

Sabalenka, meanwhile, allowed her racket to slip to the ground in frustration and barely managed a brief embrace at the net. She had earned a code violation in the first set for slamming a ball out of the stadium, and could easily have picked up a second – and thus a point penalty – after another ball that she batted away struck a cameraman, but chair umpire Greg Allensworth showed leniency.

Asked about tossing her racket, Sabalenka said: “It’s really tough to control your emotions when you lose in the final of the Grand Slam and when you were trying to go for three-peat. So I just wanted to let it go, because if I would hold it inside, right now or here or there on the court, I wouldn’t be able to say a word or I would just go not really nice over there.

“So I just wanted to let all of that aggression and disappointment go outside.”

The trophy was presented by 2006 champion Maria Sharapova – one of the few women who can look down on 6ft Rybakina, especially when wearing heels. The fans in Arthur Ashe Stadium had given at least 80 per cent of their support to Sabalenka, who won the previous two US Opens on this court, but they applauded warmly, knowing when they had seen a performance for the ages.