{"id":5117,"date":"2023-01-26T14:00:39","date_gmt":"2023-01-26T14:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/australian-open-2023-results-elena-rybakina-and-aryna-sabalenka-reach-melbourne-final\/"},"modified":"2023-01-26T14:00:40","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T14:00:40","slug":"australian-open-2023-results-elena-rybakina-and-aryna-sabalenka-reach-melbourne-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/australian-open-2023-results-elena-rybakina-and-aryna-sabalenka-reach-melbourne-final\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Open 2023 results: Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka reach Melbourne final"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
<\/span><\/span>
Elena Rybakina has beaten three major champions in a row on her way to a second Grand Slam final<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<\/thead>\n\n\n\n
Venue: <\/strong>Melbourne Park <\/span>Dates:<\/strong> 16-29 January<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Coverage: <\/strong>Commentary every day from 07:00 GMT on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra ‘Tennis Breakfast’ live from Melbourne, with selected live text commentaries and match reports on the BBC Sport website & app<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina has another shot at a major title after reaching the Australian Open final where she will meet Belarusian fifth seed Aryna Sabalenka.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Rybakina, 23, won 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 against Victoria Azarenka, ending the two-time champion’s hopes of winning the title 10 years after her last triumph.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Sabalenka beat Poland’s Magda Linette to reach her first major final.<\/span><\/p>\n

The powerful 24-year-old won 7-6 (7-1) 6-2 against her unseeded opponent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sabalenka was the heavy favourite to beat 30-year-old Linette, who had never been past the third round of a Grand Slam event before, and grew in confidence as the match wore on.<\/span><\/p>\n

After losing three times in major semi-finals, Sabalenka’s relief was evident after securing her place in Saturday’s showpiece against another big-hitter.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I wouldn’t say I started really well but in the tie-break I found my rhythm and trusted myself and started going for my shots,” said Sabalenka, who is on a 10-match winning streak after lifting the Adelaide title.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rybakina, seeded 22nd, will contest her second major final after her triumph at the All England Club last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’m super happy to be in the final and play one more time here,” she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It was different conditions, I couldn’t play aggressive tennis and couldn’t go so much for my shots but I was happy to win.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I got a lot of experience from Wimbledon and I want to come on court [for the final] and enjoy the moment.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Low-key Rybakina making sure she is noticed<\/h3>\n

Rybakina has been one of the most unheralded Wimbledon champions in recent history as a result of her low profile and a lower-than-expected ranking caused by <\/span>points not being awarded at the All England Club<\/span><\/a> last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

At Melbourne Park, the tall Kazakh has been reminding people once again of her outstanding talent.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the US Open last year, Rybakina said she did not “feel like” a major winner because she was ranked outside of the world’s top 20 after points were stripped because of Wimbledon banning Russian and Belarusian players.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rybakina was also stuck on a small outside court for her Australian Open first-round match – although she insisted she “did not care” – but since then there has been no escaping the threat she posed in the draw.<\/span><\/p>\n

She was responsible for knocking out world number Iga Swiatek in the last 16, either side of other notable wins against 2022 runner-up Danielle Collins and 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.<\/span><\/p>\n

Big serving has been one of the keys to her success and it teed up what many expected to be a fascinating contest against 33-year-old Azarenka, whose returning game has been a key to her success.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rybakina laid down a marker in the first game of the match with three aces and produced another comfortable hold before 24th seed Azarenka – absorbing her opponent’s power which helped her switch defence into attack – broke for 3-2.<\/span><\/p>\n

An instant reply swung the momentum back to Rybakina but, as she tried to serve out the set at 5-3, her first-serve percentage suddenly plummeted.<\/span><\/p>\n

That enabled Azarenka to fight back to 5-5 and earn three break points in the 11th game, only for Rybakina to regain her composure to hold and giving her the confidence to take control of the tie-break.<\/span><\/p>\n

Azarenka was not helped by several costly errors and they continued in the second set as Rybakina imposed herself with two breaks for a 5-2 lead.<\/span><\/p>\n

While she could not serve out the match, Rybakina sealed victory with another break and – rather fittingly – produced a low-key celebration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sabalenka ensures Belarusian presence in Melbourne final<\/h3>\n
\"Aryna<\/span><\/span>
Sabalenka finally reached her first major final after semi-final defeats at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2021, as well as last year at Flushing Meadows<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rybakina’s win ended the prospect of an-all Belarusian final in Melbourne before Sabalenka ensured the eastern European nation – whose flag she cannot play under because of its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – would be represented.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sabalenka has previously said “no-one supports war”, adding she was “really disappointed” politics had interfered with sport after Russian and Belarusian players were banned from Wimbledon last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Sabalenka says having “zero” control over the war helps her “stay strong”, her success will lead to more discussion about a divisive political issue in sport.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amid the ongoing controversy, her focus has been on finally reaching the major final which her talent has long promised.<\/span><\/p>\n

A edgy start saw Sabalenka lose serve in the first game and, although she broke back for 2-2, did not find her best form until the pivotal first-set tie-break where her explosive hitting came to the fore.<\/span><\/p>\n

With confidence now flowing, she raced ahead in the second set. Nerves crept in again as she could not convert any of three match points on Linette’s serve at 5-1, but took her fourth opportunity in the next game with a typically thunderous forehand winner. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Across<\/span><\/span>\"Across<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elena Rybakina has beaten three major champions in a row on her way to a second Grand Slam final Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 16-29 January Coverage: Commentary every day from 07:00 GMT on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra ‘Tennis Breakfast’ live from Melbourne, with selected live text commentaries and match reports on the BBC Sport […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5117"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5119,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5117\/revisions\/5119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}