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Melbourne (AFP) – Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, ranked fifth in the world, reached the first major final in her career, by defeating Poland’s Magda Linnett in the semi-finals of the Australian Open 7-6 (7/1), 6-2.
Sabalenka will meet in the summit match, Saturday, with Elena Rybakina, the defending Wimbledon champion, who won the Belarusian Victoria Azarenka.
“I am very happy with this win,” said the 24-year-old. “I didn’t start in a great way in the first set, and for the tiebreaker, I found my rhythm, believed in myself more, started taking a little risk, and presented a good level.”
And when asked regarding the tremendous power in the forehand in the match on the field and that it is as strong as the men’s strikes, she kissed her arms and added with a smile, “Honestly, not much, I feel that the strikes are slow. But thank you, I seem to have good genes.”
Commenting on the final match once morest Rybakina on Saturday, “She is a great player, presents excellent and developed tennis, and has a Grand Slam title and experience. It will be a great match, I look forward to that tomorrow,” before the interviewer corrected her that it was Saturday and the player added, “Excuse me, Saturday, I’m excited to play tomorrow.”
Sabalenka outperformed Rybakina in all three previous encounters that brought them together, the last of which was in the 16th round of Wimbledon 2021.
Sabalenka’s career has previously stopped three times at the semi-finals in major tournaments, specifically in Wimbledon 2021 and the Open States 2021 and 2022.
For her part, Lynette, ranked 45 in the world, entered a major semi-final for the first time in her career, following it was her best result in the third round in each of the other Grand Slam tournaments.
And the Belarusian (24 years old) renewed her victory over the Polish woman for the third time on three occasions, following the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021 and the Chinese Tianjin Games in 2018.
Sabalenka achieved distinguished levels in the recent period and was crowned before the Australian Open with the Adelaide tournament title, and at the end of last year she reached the final of the Final Tournament when she knocked out Polish world number one Iga Schwontec in the semi-finals before losing once morest French Caroline Garcia.
Despite starting the match in the worst way possible, losing the opening game on serve without scoring a point before trailing 2-0, Sabalenka hit back in the fourth to level at 2-2.
Each player maintained her serve without giving her opponent a single chance to break, to rule the tie-break, in which Sabalenka exposed her fangs and settled it with a sweeping score of 7-1.
Although she committed 15 direct errors in the first set, compared to only six for the Polish woman, the Belarusian hit 20 knockouts, compared to only seven for Linnet.
The scenario of the second set was different, and Sabalenka broke her helpless opponent twice in a row to advance 5-1.
The Belarusian wasted three opportunities to resolve the confrontation by serving her opponent in the seventh game, before accomplishing the task on her serve following a match of one hour and 33 minutes.
© 2023 AFP
