Elena Rybakina reaches Australian Open final after win over Victoria Azarenka
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Victoria Azarenka’s bid for a third Australian Open title is OVER after Elena Rybakina dominated the Belarusian veteran to reach the final
Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina ended Victoria Azarenka’s inspiring streak to become the first woman to reach the Australian Open final in Melbourne.
Continuing her relentless charge through the draw, Rybakina topped the former two-time champion 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 in Thursday night’s opening semifinal at Rod Laver Arena.
The Kazakh’s win was her third straight over a Grand Slam champion after defeating world number 1 and reigning French and US Open champion Iga Swiatek in the fourth round and 2017 Roland Garros winner , Jelena Ostapenko, in the quarterfinals.
Victoria Azarenka has been eliminated from the Australian Open in the semifinal stage
The Belarusian veteran was bidding to win her third Australian Open title in Melbourne.
Seeking her second major title in less than eight months, the 23-year-old will take on either Belarusian world number 5 Aryna Sabalenka or unseeded Pole Magda Linette for the trophy on Saturday night.
Azarenka was the last player to successfully defend the women’s crown at Melbourne Park, in 2012 and 2013, and competed to join greats Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Kim Clijsters as the fourth mother to win a Grand Slam singles crown. .
But as brave as she was, the 33-year-old couldn’t get far with a rising superstar, a decade her junior.
However, she was bested by Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan at Rod Laver Arena.
Coming into her 11th Australian Open semifinal 11 years after her first, Azarenka’s fighting spirit was on full display in a rollercoaster-like first set.
She rallied from 5-3 down and set point in the eighth game to bring the first set to a tiebreaker, only to lose it on a wild forehand error on Rybakina’s second set point.
The former world No. 1 dropped serve to fall behind 3-1 in the second, then again in the seventh game to lose 5-2.
Azarenka broke Rybakina in the following game, but the reprieve simply turned out to be a stay of execution, as the Russian-born world number 25 quickly regrouped to win the match after one hour and 41 minutes.