Melbourne [Australia], January 23 (ANI): Two-time champion Aryna Sabalenka reached her third successive Australian Open final, defeating 11th seed Paula Badosa in the semifinal on Thursday.
Beating Badosa 6-4, 6-2, the defending champion now has a chance to win her third Australian Open title. She also extended her winning streak at Melbourne Park to 20 matches.
The star player remains undefeated in 2025, extending her win streak to 11 matches. Sabalenka, 26, is the first woman to reach three Australian Open finals since Serena Williams and the youngest since Martina Hingis.
With this win, Sabalenka improved her record against Badosa to six wins and two losses. She will face either world number two Iga Swiatek or number 14 Madison Keys in the title clash. Sabalenka is also aiming to become the first woman to win three successive Australian Open titles since Hingis, who won from 1997 to 1999.
Badosa, the Spaniard, is set to return to the top 10 in the WTA rankings after making it to her first-ever Grand Slam semifinal. She also secured her first top-10 win at a Grand Slam, defeating Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals.
Badosa made a strong start to the match, holding a 2-0, 40-0 lead but failed to convert it into a triple-game point. Sabalenka steadied herself and broke Badosa in an eight-minute game to put the match back on serve. The world number one then won four successive games to build a 4-2 lead. From that point, she never looked back and did not face another break point in a match that lasted almost one and a half hours.
Sabalenka secured the win with 26 winners and 18 unforced errors, while Badosa managed just eight winners and 14 unforced errors. (ANI)
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