Aryna Sabalenka (WTA 2) qualified for the final of the Australian Open. The defending champion beat American Coco Gauff 7-6 (7/2) 6-4. The Belarusian will face the Chinese Zheng Qinwen in the final.
This will be Sabalenka’s third major final, after the one won in Melbourne a year ago, and the one lost in New York in September 2023.
She is the first to reach two finals in a row at the Australian Open since Serena Williams in 2016 and 2017.
Sabalenka reached the final without dropping a single set since the start of the Australian fortnight.
If her semi-final exceeded 100 minutes, she had not lingered more than 71 minutes on the court during her first 5 matches. She had even lost only 16 games to reach the last four.
With all of his strenght
Under the closed roof of the Rod Laver Arena on Thursday evening, Sabalenka deployed with some success his simple but effective strategy: hitting with all his might.
Heavy blows which allowed him to lead 5 games to 3 in the first round and serve for the set. Gauff, by forcing her as much as possible to play one more shot, managed to reverse the trend until leading 6-5 and coming within 2 points of the set.
But Sabalenka once again brought her firepower to bear to win the deciding game.
In the second set, she made the difference at 4 everywhere and concluded on her 2nd opportunity in the following game.
Sabalenka has reached, at a minimum, the semi-final stage during the last 6 Grand Slam tournaments and the last 2 Masters, since the 2022 US Open.
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