Melbourne: Aryna Sabalenka took a big step to retain her Australian Open crown by beating fourth-seeded American Coco Gauff 7-6(2), 6-4 in a thriller on Thursday to reach the final where she will meet China’s Zheng Qinwen. Zheng got the better of Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska 6-4, 6-4 in the second semifinal.
In a rematch of their US Open final in September, the two reigning hard-court Grand Slam champions got off to contrasting starts as Belarusian Sabalenka fired an ace and sped up her forehand to hold before pounced on two double faults from Gauff to break.
Gauff immediately hit back and the two exchanged breaks again, but the 19-year-old New York champion continued to falter on her serve, allowing Sabalenka to calm her nerves after losing 6-5 in a frenetic period for win the first set. a tie-break.
The pair were tied up 4-4 in the second set as Sabalenka countered Gauff’s speed with power and the 25-year-old second seed took the lead with a decisive break when the teenager hit a shot well before sealing the victory with two massive serves.
Zheng ended Yastremska’s fairytale qualifying run to reach her first Grand Slam final.
The points were short and sharp for most of the battle and followed the same pattern in both sets, with the two breaks trading at the start and then Zheng getting the extra break in the seventh game each time.
In the first set, Zheng managed to keep the pressure on Yastremska, blasting winners on both wings, and left the 23-year-old Ukrainian clutching her abdomen in pain.
After taking a medical timeout off the court, Yastremska returned with Zheng on standby in the next match.
Yastremska extended the set by winning the next game with a nifty shot, but she piled up the errors in the next game, giving Zheng the first set.
The 12th seed started stronger in the second set, hitting her first service game to love, then snatching an early break after a series of errors from Yastremska, but the Ukrainian fought back immediately.
Zheng broke again in the seventh game, helped by a double fault from Yastremska and a long shot that flew away. Yastremska bravely held on in the next game, with Zheng landing an easy smash, but the Chinese player grabbed the match with an unrecoverable serve.
