Aryna Sabalenka Beats Elina Svitolina To Punch Her Ticket To Australian Open Final
If you were looking for a safe bet in the unpredictably chaotic world of tennis, you could do a lot worse than backing Aryna Sabalenka on a hard court in Melbourne. For the fourth year running, a feat we haven’t seen since the days of Martina Hingis in the early 2000s, Sabalenka has punched her ticket to the Saturday showpiece.
She didn’t just beat Elina Svitolina in the semifinals; she dismantled the narrative, shrugged off a bizarre umpiring controversy, and reminded everyone why this surface is basically her second home.
But getting there wasn’t just about forehands and backhands. Thursday at Rod Laver Arena gave us everything: political tension, an umpire showdown, and a reminder that even the best players in the world are fighting ghosts in their own heads.
Sabalenka Turns Controversy Into Fuel
Let’s be honest: the 6-2, 6-3 score line makes this look like a walk in the park. And physically? It kind of was. Sabalenka only needed 77 minutes to power through Svitolina. But mentally, the match had a flashpoint that could have derailed a lesser player.
In the first set, chair umpire Louise Engzell hit Sabalenka with a hindrance violation. The crime? A mid-point grunt that allegedly lingered a little too long. Sabalenka, whose vocal cords are usually as active as her racket arm, looked genuinely baffled. She argued, she fumed, and for a split second, you wondered if the “Old Aryna”, the one prone to letting frustration boil over into unforced errors, would make an appearance.
Nope.
Instead, the World No. 1 did what champions do: she got angry, and then she got even. The penalty seemed to flip a switch. Her groundstrokes got heavier, her focus sharpened, and she proceeded to blast 29 winners past a helpless Svitolina. It was a terrifying display of controlled aggression. Sabalenka admitted afterward that she felt she had to “push as much pressure” as possible onto Svitolina, and frankly, she nearly pushed her off the court.
The Handshake That Wasn’t
We have to address the elephant in the room, even though it’s been standing there for four years. The political backdrop of the war in Ukraine means matches between Ukrainian players and Russian or Belarusian opponents carry a heaviness that goes beyond sport.
To their credit, Australian Open organizers got ahead of this. After teenager Mirra Andreeva was booed earlier in the tournament for a similar situation, the PA announcer explicitly told the crowd there would be no handshake at the net. It was a grim but necessary bit of housekeeping.
When the match ended, Sabalenka and Svitolina kept their distance. No handshake, just a nod to the crowd. But catch the press conference later, and you see the humanity underneath the geopolitics. Sabalenka was pure class, praising Svitolina’s “incredible” tournament and respecting her decision. It is a weird new normal in tennis, but at least on Thursday, the respect was mutual, even if it wasn’t physical.
Rybakina Survives the Flashbacks
While Sabalenka was busy bulldozing her way to the final, her opponent for Saturday, Elena Rybakina, was busy trying not to have a panic attack.
Rybakina’s match against Jessica Pegula was a tale of two mindsets. For a set and a half, the Kazakh star looked imperious, leading 6-3, 5-3. She was cruising. Then, the wheels started to wobble. She blew three match points. Then she failed to serve it out. Twice.
Suddenly, we were in a tiebreak, and Rybakina was staring down the barrel of a third set. She later admitted she had a “flashback” to a marathon tiebreak she lost at this same venue years ago. That is the most relatable thing a pro athlete has said all week. Who hasn’t been in a high-pressure moment and suddenly remembered that one time they messed up three years ago?
Luckily for her, Rybakina has ice in her veins. She saved set points, composed herself, and finally put Pegula away 7-6(7). It wasn’t pretty, but finals aren’t won by being pretty; they’re won by surviving.
Sabalenka vs. Rybakina: The Heavyweight Rematch
So here we are. Saturday night. Sabalenka versus Rybakina. This is the match the tournament deserved. It is a rematch of the 2023 final, which was an absolute barnburner. You have Sabalenka, the emotional powerhouse who hits the ball like she’s trying to puncture it, against Rybakina, the stoic assassin who serves bombs without changing her facial expression.
Sabalenka is chasing her third title in four years. She’s trying to cement a dynasty in Melbourne. Rybakina is trying to prove that her 2022 Wimbledon title wasn’t her only peak.
