{"id":445500,"date":"2026-01-29T16:37:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T16:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/445500\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T16:37:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T16:37:34","slug":"sabalenka-rybakina-to-meet-in-australian-open-final-tennis-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/445500\/","title":{"rendered":"Sabalenka, Rybakina to meet in Australian Open final | Tennis News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka powered into her fourth Australian Open final in a row with a dominant 6-2 6-3 win over Ukraine\u2019s Elina Svitolina on Thursday, in a politically charged encounter.<\/p>\n

Top-seeded Sabalenka will now bid for a third crown at Melbourne Park in four years, and fifth Grand Slam title overall, against Elena Rybakina at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

\u201cI just cannot believe that. It\u2019s an incredible achievement \u2060but the job is not done yet,\u201d world number one Sabalenka said on court. \u201cI\u2019m super happy with the win. She\u2019s \u200bsuch a tough opponent and has been playing incredible tennis the whole week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Russia\u2019s invasion \u200dof Ukraine in 2022, for which Belarus has been a staging ground, Russian and Belarusian players have been banned from representing their nations at the Grand Slams and tour events.<\/p>\n

Like other players from Ukraine, Svitolina does not shake hands with opponents from Russia or Moscow\u2019s ally Belarus because of the war.<\/p>\n

An announcement was made before the semifinal at Rod Laver Arena and a statement flashed up on a big screen saying there would be no handshake, asking fans to \u201crespect\u201d that.<\/p>\n

The two players also noticeably kept apart for the pre-match formalities and photos.<\/p>\n

Svitolina has been vocal about the strain of playing the two countries\u2019 players, and said she hoped \u200dto bring her \u2060nation \u201clight\u201d at the Australian Open after a tough winter.<\/p>\n

\"ArynaSabalenka serves against Svitolina during their women\u2019s singles semifinal match in Melbourne on January 29, 2026 [Izhar Khan\/AFP]<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old Sabalenka, however, crushed those hopes in a furious display of raw power.<\/p>\n

She became the third woman in the professional era to reach the Australian Open decider four times in a row, following Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1971-76) and Martina Hingis (1997-2002), who each played six finals in a row.<\/p>\n

\u201cGutted not to make it through tonight,\u201d Svitolina told reporters. \u201cOf course, it\u2019s very difficult when you\u2019re playing a world number one on fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

While 31-year-old Svitolina was comprehensively defeated, she fought \u200bhard from the first ball to the last.<\/p>\n

The 12th seed started with tenacity, thumping \u200ca forehand winner down the line on the first point returning serve.<\/p>\n

Sabalenka wobbled, giving up two break points with a loose backhand, but blasted her way out of danger.<\/p>\n

There was early tension at 2-1 when Svitolina was awarded a point mid-rally, with Sabalenka penalised for hindering \u200cthe point with a late grunt.<\/p>\n

Incensed, she demanded a video review, but the point stood.<\/p>\n

She channelled her frustration into breaking Svitolina, then held for a 4-1 lead.<\/p>\n

Pinning Svitolina well \u200cbehind the baseline, Sabalenka grabbed three set points and converted the \u2060third, roaring \u201cLet\u2019s go!\u201d after a sizzling cross-court backhand winner.<\/p>\n

\"ArynaSvitolina, left, was no match for Sabalenka in the first semifinal [Dita Alangkara\/AP]<\/p>\n

After 41 minutes of earth-shaking power, Sabalenka\u2019s weapons finally misfired.<\/p>\n

She dropped the opening service game of the second set with a clutch of errors, raising cheers from a crowd yearning for a contest.<\/p>\n

But Sabalenka steadied herself, breaking Svitolina twice in \u200csuccession.<\/p>\n

Svitolina never dropped her head and earned a break point when trailing 4-2 to put the match back on serve.<\/p>\n

Sabalenka was not to be denied, though.<\/p>\n

After thrashing a forehand winner down the line to save the break point, she \u200dproved unstoppable.<\/p>\n

Grabbing two match points with a huge serve, Sabalenka closed it out in style, swooping forward with a forehand cross-court winner to book her chance of claiming a third trophy at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n

Rybakina overcomes Pegula, sets up 2023 finals rematch<\/p>\n

In the second semifinal on Thursday, Rybakina set up a rematch of the 2023 Australian Open women\u2019s singles final with Sabalenka with a 6-3 7-6(7) defeat of sixth seed Jessica Pegula.<\/p>\n

Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, needed one hour and 40 minutes to eliminate the American to advance to Saturday night\u2019s final showdown with Sabalenka.<\/p>\n

Sabalenka has an 8-6 advantage in head-to-head meetings with Rybakina, the pair splitting their four meetings last year. Rybakina won their most recent match at the season-ending WTA Finals in December.<\/p>\n

\"ElenaKazakhstan\u2019s Elena Rybakina is into her third women\u2019s grand slam final after winning her semifinal against USA\u2019s Jessica Pegula in Melbourne on January 29, 2026 [Izhar Khan\/AFP]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka powered into her fourth Australian Open final in a row with a dominant 6-2 6-3…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[77,64,63,44,588,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-445500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-asia-pacific","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-sport","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}