A 10-point deciding tiebreak would have been implemented if required, but Kyrgios needed around 70 minutes to defeat the 27-year-old Belarusian.<\/p>\n
![\"Pic:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/skynews-nick-kyrgios-battle-of-the-sexes_7120897.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Pic: AP<\/p>\n
There was laughing and joking between the players, some under-arm serves, and even dancing from Sabalenka during a timeout to entertain the crowd at the 17,000-seat Coca-Cola Arena.<\/p>\n
The pair are represented by the same agency, which arranged the exhibition match.<\/p>\n
Kyrgios, 30, negotiated the slightly smaller “equaliser” court to break his opponent to love in the third game.<\/p>\n
The next four games went against serve before the Australian held to love to move 5-3 ahead, where he broke Sabalenka again on his way to closing out the opening set.<\/p>\n
Sabalenka threatened to force a comeback when she won three consecutive games to go 3-1 up in the second set, where she used her 60-second timeout to dance to the Macarena, before Kyrgios won the next five games and clinched victory on his third match point.<\/p>\n
![\"Pic:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/skynews-aryna-sabalenka-battle-of-the-sexes_7120906.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n
‘Really tough match’<\/p>\n
After his win, Kyrgios, the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up, said it was a “really tough match, she is a hell of a player and such a great champion”.<\/p>\n
He added: “I didn’t really know what to expect. She broke my serve numerous times. Honestly, I had to strap in because she was putting the pressure on. She was hitting some amazing shots.”<\/p>\n
“I would love to play her again and showcase her talent and what I have left in the tank. Ultimately, it was a really hard-fought battle. There were breaks back and forth.”<\/p>\n
![\"Aryna](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/skynews-aryna-sabalenka-nick-kyrgios_7120977.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Aryna Sabalenka, her goddaughter Nicole, and Nick Kyrgios celebrate with trophies following the match. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n
Before the Dubai event, Kyrgios, who had a career-high ranking of 13 in 2016, was limited to just six tour-level singles matches since 2023 because of wrist and knee injuries. His most recent match was in March this year.<\/p>\n
Sabalenka won the US Open in August and reached the semi-finals or better in all four Grand Slam tournaments in 2025, with the Belarusian keen to take positives from her loss into the new season.<\/p>\n
‘A lot of great shots’<\/p>\n
She said: “I felt great. I think I put up a great fight and he was struggling. I think it was a great level. I made a lot of great shots, moved a lot to the net, had great drop shots.<\/p>\n
“I really enjoyed the show and I feel like next time – when I play him – I already know the tactics. I know his strengths, his weaknesses and it’s going to be a better match for sure.”<\/p>\n
Read more from Sky News: The Dubai event had divided opinion in the tennis world.<\/p>\n Before the clash, former British number one Greg Rusedski called the event “a gimmick” but said it would be a success if it brings non-tennis fans to the sport.<\/p>\n The so-called “Battle of the Sexes” was a name borrowed from a 1973 match, when Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs at the Houston Astrodome.<\/p>\n King won in straight sets and the match took place amid her efforts to start a female tour and get equal pay in tennis.<\/p>\n That exhibition followed Riggs beating Margaret Court earlier that year, while other contests dubbed “Battle of the Sexes” include Jimmy Connors defeating Martina Navratilova in 1992.<\/p>\n Prior to the Dubai event, King said the match was far removed from the classic she played in, but it’s “good” that it’s being talked about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nick Kyrgios has defeated Aryna Sabalenka to win the latest “Battle of the Sexes” tennis exhibition match. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-339885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Tributes to ‘devoted family man’<\/a>
Child dies after house fire in Kent<\/a><\/p>\n