Who won Battle of the Sexes? Match result, score, for Nick Kyrgios vs. Aryna Sabalenka

Deepti Patwardhan

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Who won Battle of the Sexes? Match result, score, for Nick Kyrgios vs. Aryna Sabalenka image

Pro tennis may be between seasons, but Nick Kyrgios and Aryna Sabalenka kept the world's attention firmly on the sport with the 'Battle of the Sexes' on Sunday.

Kyrgios vs. Sabalenka seemed like a weak rendition of the 1973 classic, when Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in a best-of-five-sets in a match that added heft to women's tennis fight for equal pay and social change. 

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Played in the commercial heartland of the world, Dubai, the latest 'Battle of the Sexes' match was dismissed by tennis pundits as a marketing gimmick.

And though the match contributed little to the power dynamics in the sport, Sabalenka and Kyrgios turned it into a spectacle with drama and some quality hits. While Sabalenka went ahead full throttle against Kyrgios, the Australian dipped into his varied arsenal, including drop shots and the underarm serve.

MORE: The history of tennis' 'Battle of the Sexes' and all-time results

Who won Battle of the Sexes?

Sabalenka walked out onto the court in a dazzling ankle-length coat to the tune of 'Eye of the Tiger'.

The court on Sabalenka's side was nine per cent smaller and both players seemed to struggle at the beginning of the match. With both players allowed only one serve each, the women's World No 1 fired kick serves, sacrificing pace and power for accuracy.

The opening set saw five straight breaks of serve after 1-1. Kyrgios stalled that run as he won a game on his serve for a 5-3 lead with an underarm service winner and then went on to clinch the set 6-3.

Before the match, one of the talking points was the gulf in rankings between the two players. While Sabalenka is the reigning US Open champion and top-ranked women's player, Kyrgios, a former Wimbledon finalist, has sunk to 671 and has won only 1 of his five tour matches he played in 2025.

The Australian's lack of conditioning was evident in the second set, as Sabalenka continued to take big swings and moved him around the court.

Kyrgios, however, tightened up his serve and his game in the second half of the set to bounce back from a 1-3 deficit. The 30-year-old Australian won four games in a row to go into a 5-3 lead. As he served for the match, Sabalenka threw in all she had to stretch him to deuce twice, but Kyrgios closed out the match with a wide service winner to capture the set 6-3 and finish the match in straight sets. 

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Staff Writer