Rybakina, playing in her first WTA 1000 final, came back from a break down to grab a tightly-contested first set during which second seed Sabalenka committed 10 double faults and the Kazakh 10th seed never trailed the rest of the way.
"It's actually the first time it went my way (against her) so we'll see, hopefully we are going to play many more finals," Rybakina said during the trophy presentation before Sabalenka stepped in and joked: "I'll make sure it was the last one."
Rybakina, who beat defending champion and world number one Iga Swiatek to reach the final, dropped serve when Sabalenka landed a forehand lob just inside the baseline for a 3-2 lead followed by a routine hold that gave the Belarusian control.
But Rybakina refused to back down and immediately held at love to steady the ship before Sabalenka handed back the break with an untimely double fault that levelled the match at 4-4 from where the duo remained on serve to force a tiebreaker.
Despite her struggles, Sabalenka had her chances in the opener but squandered three set points while also turning aside five set points before finally sending a forehand long to give Rybakina control.
Sabalenka's 10th double fault gave Rybakina her sixth set point of the opening frame at 12-11 in the tiebreak from where she closed it out when the Belarusian sent a forehand long.
Rybakina used a pair of breaks to bulldoze her way to a 5-2 lead in the second set before Sabalenka produced a sizzling stretch to get within 5-4.
But Rybakina sensed her opportunity and closed the deal on her first championship point opportunity when Sabalenka sent a service return into the net.
"I didn't serve that well, and it started to get a little bit more windy and I didn't adjust my serve," said Sabalenka. "Of course I felt like she stepped in a little bit and started playing a little bit more aggressive."
