Aryna Sabalenka is into yet another Australian Open final, having comprehensively beaten Elina Svitolina earlier today.
In all honesty, the contest was dominated from start to finish, with the Belarusian displaying incredible levels of control. Mixing that with the natural power she brings to every match, it’s always a recipe for disaster for her opponents.
Her performances in Melbourne over the last few years have been totally overwhelming, and the fact that she has reached the final in four straight years is indicative of this.
Now, she awaits the result of Jessica Pegula’s match against Elena Rybakina to see who stands in her way of a third Australian Open title.
Aryna Sabalenka praised for reaching another Australian Open final
Speaking live on ESPN after Aryna Sabalenka’s supreme performance, Caroline Wozniacki was in awe of the world number one.
In fact, she argued that today’s match was the best she had seen the 27-year-old play all tournament, noting: “Sabalenka played some incredible tennis today. She was hitting strong off both wings, forehand, backhand, she was serving big, big returning big, had very few unforced errors. She was great at the net.
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“There’s really nothing that Svitolina could do.
“This is the best match that I’ve watched Sabalenka play in this tournament, so far. And if she could play like this in the finals, she’ll be a huge favourite to win the title once more.”
Then asked to comment on Svitolina, and where she goes from here, Wozniacki added: “Well, she’ll come back and say, wow, I played a player who played better than me today, and if I want to win a major, I need to get through her, I need to get through Rybakina. Big hitters.
“She needs to find a way to mix up the pace, get more pace and pop on her first serve. She needs to get them uncomfortable and find a way to push them back.
“She wasn’t able to do that today, and she’ll be disappointed with not making it through to the finals, but at the same time, she got outplayed today.”
Sabalenka spoke on court after her win, and even she seemed stunned by her own performance.
Aryna Sabalenka’s stunning record on Grand Slam hard courts
Sabalenka has a quite stunning record when it comes to playing Grand Slam matches on hard courts.
And, as she ascended to the world number one spot over the last few years, that supremacy has only grown.
Having reached the final of the 2023 US Open, losing to Coco Gauff, Sabalenka would win the next two iterations and will be the heavy favourite to do so again later this year.
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Similarly, at the Australian Open, she won the title in both 2023 and 2024, but lost to Madison Keys in last year’s final. Now, here she is again, just one match away from glory.
From the 80 matches she has played on hard court Grand Slam tournaments, she has won 64 of them, leaving her win rate at a remarkable 85%.
She has also reached all of the last four major finals on this surface too.
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