- Elena Rybakina defeated Victoria to advance to her second major final.
- She will play winner of Saturday’s final between Aryna and Linette.
- Rybakina finished with 20 winners to 16 unforced errors.
In the Australian Open semifinals on Thursday, reigning Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina defeated former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka 7-6(4), 6-3 to advance to her second major final.
The winner of Saturday’s final between No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka and Poland’s Magda Linette will play Rybakina, who is seeded 22nd.
Rybakina, who was competing in her maiden Australian Open semifinal, faced a difficult challenge when she faced a major champion for the third straight set.
The 23-year-old beat last year’s finalist Danielle Collins, World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, 2019 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, and two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka on the way to the biggest hard-court final of her career.
Rybakina and Azarenka traded punches from the baseline in a high-caliber one-hour opening set until the former No. 1 broke first for a 3-1 advantage, breaking on an intriguing cat-and-mouse point at the net. After 24 minutes, the Wimbledon winner was up 4-3 after breaking back immediately and settling on serve.
After gaining some composure, Rybakina broke for a 5-3 advantage but was unable to win the set. With a running forehand down the line pass, Azarenka saved set point and broke to regain service. This time, Rybakina had to maintain her serve under pressure. Rybakina rescued her serve from 0-40 in the most important game of the set to maintain a 6-5 lead.
Rybakina finished with 20 winners to 16 unforced errors, beating Azarenka in a flawless tiebreak. In the end, Azarenka had 13 unforced errors and 17 winners.
Rybakina established herself as a strong front-runner in the competition, having dropped just one set. She soon broke Azarenka and maintained her lead to take the second set 3-1 with a set in hand. Rybakina made a second break to take the lead 5-2 as Azarenka’s serve started to deteriorate.
Azarenka gained two opportunities to break Rybakina as she attempted to serve out the victory after failing to generate a break point in the second set. The 33-year-old gained one break back on to a clean return winner at 5-2, 30-40, but Rybakina ended the match on her return.
Azarenka committed her sixth double fault, awarding Rybakina a triple-break point, which she capitalised on after Azarenka’s backhand hit the net. Rybakina won Wimbledon.
In the 1-hour, 41-minute match, Rybakina finished with 30 aces, 9 wins, and 21 unforced errors. Azarenka had 27 unforced errors compared to 26 wins.
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