{"id":445581,"date":"2026-01-29T17:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T17:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/445581\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T17:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T17:30:12","slug":"aryna-sabalenka-matches-martina-hingis-in-reaching-a-fourth-final-in-a-row-at-melbourne-park-elena-rybakina-faces-a-nervous-finish-against-jessica-pegula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/445581\/","title":{"rendered":"Aryna Sabalenka matches Martina Hingis in reaching a fourth final in a row at Melbourne Park; Elena Rybakina faces a nervous finish against Jessica Pegula"},"content":{"rendered":"

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There was significant drama and tension as Rybakina tried to set up the Sabalenka showdown.<\/p>\n

Rybakina twice unsuccessfully served for a final spot after also having three match points on Pegula\u2019s serve in the ninth game of the second set.<\/p>\n

\"Elena<\/p>\n

Elena Rybakina is into her third grand slam final and second in Melbourne. Credit: Eddie Jim<\/p>\n

A tie-breaker was required to split them, and Pegula even had separate set points to force a decider \u2013 one of which Rybakina saved after barely clipping the baseline, which drew gasps from the crowd, before pummelling one of her 23 winners.<\/p>\n

In between, Rybakina\u2019s team was squirming in the coaches\u2019 pod, struggling to hide their emotions.<\/p>\n

But a Rybakina ace broke a seven-all deadlock to bring up her fourth match point, and she delivered this time, drilling a backhand return winner to complete her win in one hour and 40 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot. It was such a battle. It was an epic second set, and I\u2019m really glad that I managed to win it,\u201d Rybakina said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very nervous and frustrated when it was not going my way. I was leading 5-3, and then it went so close. I think Jessica started to return a bit better and put some pressure [on], [and we had] some long rallies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just thinking to play one point at a time and try to fight as much as possible. I\u2019m just super happy to be in the final.\u201d<\/p>\n

American Madison Keys spoiled Sabalenka\u2019s bid for a title hat-trick at Melbourne Park last year, outlasting her in a three-set classic, but she has continued to reach the latter stages of grand slams at an extraordinary rate.<\/p>\n

Sabalenka has advanced to the semi-finals or better at 11 of her past 12 majors, during an incredible period when she won all four of her grand slam titles and never lost before the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

\"Elina<\/p>\n

Elina Svitolina had her moments but was no match for Sabalenka in their semi-final.Credit: Eddie Jim<\/p>\n

Sabalenka\u2019s dominant performance extended an underwhelming fortnight of mismatches, leaving the Rod Laver Arena crowd\u2019s entertainment to come from watching the Belarusian\u2019s sustained racquet fireworks, which were all the more impressive because of how few mistakes she made.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old blasted nearly double as many winners as unforced errors (29 to 15), and was unforgiving whenever Svitolina offered her anything short.<\/p>\n

She also overcame a controversial hindrance call on the first point of the fourth game, where the chair umpire ruled her secondary grunt was late and disruptive.<\/p>\n

A subsequent video review upheld that decision, which Sabalenka gave a thumbs-down reaction to, but she ended up securing her first break in that game after overwhelming Svitolina from the back of the court. But Sabalenka was still bemused about the call post-match.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Ukrainian flag seen in the crowd for the women\u2019s semi-final between Sabalenka and Svitolina.Credit: Eddie Jim<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s never happened to me, especially with my grunting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so off, I think \u2026 the ball was deep, and the bounce was wrong, and it was just like the timing. I was exhaling, and it just happened naturally. Then she called it, and I was, like, \u2018What? What is wrong with you?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was the wrong call, but whatever. How do I say [it] in a nice way? She really pissed me off, and it actually helped me and benefited my game. I was more aggressive. I was not happy with the call, so it really helped me to get that game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sabalenka\u2019s only lapse was a loose game on serve to start the second set, which ended with back-to-back unforced errors and included a separate double fault \u2013 but she was back on serve by the fourth game and never looked back.<\/p>\n

\"Sabalenka<\/p>\n

Sabalenka is hunting a third Australian Open title.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Svitolina, who will return to the top 10 next week for the first time since the birth of her daughter with French player Gael Monfils in October 2022, said Sabalenka was \u201con fire\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like she feels very comfortable here on those courts. She\u2019s won here a couple of times, so I think she has this confidence playing here,\u201d Svitolina said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I could put a bit more pressure with my serve, but I think she had answers on everything today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australian Open officials announced before Sabalenka and Svitolina\u2019s semi-final that they would not shake hands afterwards, helping avoid the boos that followed when Svitolina and Russia\u2019s Andreeva did not complete the post-match formality earlier in the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like I didn\u2019t have [an] opportunity to even say, \u2018Great job\u2019,\u201d Sabalenka said of the conclusion to her match with Svitolina. \u201cI have it now, so great job, great match, great player, amazing tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Loading There was significant drama and tension as Rybakina tried to set up the Sabalenka showdown. Rybakina twice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-445581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445581","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=445581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}