Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka is a step away from winning her third consecutive Australian Open women’s singles title after she eased past Paula Badosa of Spain on Thursday (Jan 23). Playing at the Rod Laver Arena at Melbourne Park, Sabalenka beat Badosa 6-4, 6-2 and will now face the winner of Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek in the final on Saturday.
Sabalenka makes light work of Badosa
Playing in her maiden Grand Slam semifinal, Badosa could not repeat the trick from her quarterfinal win over Coco Gauff. Sabalenka started the match slowly as she dropped her opening game on serve before bouncing back. With a 2-0 lead, Badosa looked for early dominance, but Sabalenka immediately bounced back to return on serve. After the nervous start, Sabalenka took control of the set and dropped only two games from the next eight to win the opening set.
The second set was a more straightforward affair as the two-time defending champion dominated with ease, racking up 32 winners compared to Badosa’s 11. Interestingly, Sabalenka did not give her opponent any chance to break and held on for the entire match. On the other hand, Badosa was broken four times.
The 26-year-old will now bid for her third consecutive title at the Australian Open and could become the first women’s singles champion since Martina Hingis to repeat the feat. Hingis won three consecutive titles between 1997 and 1999.
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The former World No. 1 recently won the US Open 2024 and will have the opportunity to add another trophy to an already illustrious cabinet. So far in the Australian Open, Sabalenka has dropped only one set, which was against Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarterfinal.
Sabalenka will meet either Madison Keys or Iga Swiatek, who are bidding to win their first title in Melbourne. Swiatek has previously won the US Open and the French Open but is yet to taste glory in Melbourne.