MADRID, 25 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka, current champion, and the Chinese Qinwen Zheng will be the protagonists of this Saturday’s final of the Australian Open, the first ‘Grand Slam’ of the season, after beating the American Coco Gauff this Thursday (7-6 , 6-4) and the Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska (6-4, 6-4).
In the semifinal that opened the action at Rod Laver Arena, Sabalenka took revenge against Gauff from the last US Open final and qualified for the final for the second consecutive year, and for the third time in a Grand Slam. ‘.
The one from Minsk, second seed and who was facing her fifth consecutive semi-final in a ‘big’, continues with a firm step in Melbourne and entered the last match without giving up a set either against the young American, fourth favorite and who had a good option in the first sleeve.
Sabalenka started more solidly and after wasting a first break, she broke again to take a promising 5-2 lead, but there Gauff reacted with quality to, saving a set point along the way, chain four games in a row. However, the American did not take advantage of her serve with 6-5 up and in the ‘sudden death’ the Belarusian gave her no options (7/2).
The second set was much more even, with the US Open champion suffering a little more with her serve than the world number two, who barely gave up points. In the end, Sabalenka found the break at the decisive moment, at 4-4, and sealed a duel in which she scored 33 winners with a last hard-fought serve.
Opposite, the current champion will have the young 21-year-old Chinese tennis player Qinwen Zheng, twelfth seeded in Melbourne, and who qualified for her first ‘Grand Slam’ final after finishing with a double 6-4 with the dream of the Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska.
The one from Odessa aspires to extend her surprising journey in the tournament until the fight for the title, which began in the previous phase and tried to emulate the British Emma Raducanu, the only ‘major’ champion since the previous phase after her victory in the Open of the United States of 2021.
But the award went to a much stronger Zheng and probably more physically fresh than her rival, who even had to go to the locker room in the first set to treat a problem apparently in her abdominal area.
Until that moment, the Ukrainian had given problems to the Chinese, who had started by breaking serve to gain an advantage, but as the match progressed, Zheng became more solid despite her rival’s resistance to become the second tennis player in her country to reach a ‘Grand Slam’ final after Li Na, champion in Melbourne in 2014 and also finalist at Roland Garros in 2011.
2024-01-25 13:07:08
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