The Belarusian mastered her nerves to erase the Polish Linette. She will live, Saturday against the Kazakh, her first Grand Slam final.
Aryna Sabalenka, 5th in the world, qualified Thursday in Melbourne for the Australian Open final, her first Grand Slam, where she will face Kazakh Elena Rybakina (25th) on Saturday. The Belarusian, 24, beat Poland’s Magda Linette (45th) in two sets, 7-6 (7/1), 6-2 in the semi-finals, and expects a “great battleagainst Rybakina.
«I am very happy with this victorysaid the Belarusian. “I didn’t start the match very well, but I found my rhythm from the tie-break, I gained confidence and I started to let go of my shots“, she analyzed. Indeed, she was broken from the start by the Polish, but managed to come back to 2-2. Then, with Sabalenka leading 6-5, Linette equalized and pushed the set to the tiebreak as the net deflected and put a loose ball back into the court. But Belarus clearly dominated the decisive game and only increased its hold on the game thereafter. She lined up five games in a row to lead 5-1. There, on Linette’s service, she missed her first two match points by committing two unforced errors. But she did not flinch on her next service game.
Sabalenka remained on three knockout stages in Melbourne in the last three editions. She had already played three Grand Slam semi-finals (Wimbledon 2021, US Open 2021 and 2022) without ever reaching the final. But she has already played and won a final at the Australian Open, in 2021 in doubles, associated with the Belgian Elise Mertens. “Being in the final is an incredible experience. Hope this helps me for saturday“, she said, without much conviction, however. Sabalenka has still not lost a single set of the season, which began with a title at Adelaide 1.
