Sabalenka defeats Svitolina, advances to another Australian Open final
MELBOURNE, Australia — A point penalty for hindrance could not hinder Aryna Sabalenka’s journey to her fourth consecutive Australian Open final.
The top-seeded Sabalenka dominated Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday night, placing her one win away from securing a third Australian Open title in four years.
The Belarusian is set to face the winner of the second semifinal between sixth-seeded Jessica Pegula and fifth-seeded Elena Rybakina, who claimed the Wimbledon title in 2022 and was the runner-up to Sabalenka in Australia in 2023.
All four competitors reached the semifinals without losing a set, marking only the fifth occurrence in the Open era, and both Sabalenka and Svitolina entered the match with 10-match winning streaks after securing titles in their respective warmup tournaments.
Sabalenka maintained both of her streaks, delivering 19 winners and breaking Svitolina’s serve twice in the opening set.
The 12th-seeded Svitolina, hailing from Ukraine, broke serve to start the second set, but Sabalenka quickly responded, winning the next five games to seize control of the semifinal. She concluded the match with a total of 29 winners compared to Svitolina’s 19.
She becomes the third player in the Open era to reach four consecutive women’s finals at the Australian Open, following Evonne Goolagong and Martina Hingis.
“It’s an incredible achievement but the job’s not done yet,” Sabalenka stated. “I’ve been watching her game, (Svitolina) was playing incredible. I felt like I had to step in and put as much pressure as I could back on her. I’m glad the level was there. I think I played great tennis.”
The only disruption occurred at the start of the fourth game due to hindrance. A hindrance call was made for a distraction that interfered with a player’s ability to make a shot, which can include loud noises from an opponent. Umpire Louise Azemar Engzell determined that Sabalenka emitted a prolonged grunt after mis-hitting a forehand. The shot appeared to be going long but landed within the baseline, allowing Svitolina to continue playing.
Sabalenka requested a video review, but the point penalty was confirmed.
However, it did not affect her for long. Sabalenka broke serve in that game and maintained control for most of the match.
Source: espn.com
