Aryna Sabalenka has been working hard on her tennis and in 2023, it finally shows as she's almost impossible to beat for her opponents.
Before entering the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, the Belarusian competed in Adelaide, and no one was able to stop her there. Moreover, no one could even take a set away from here, and Sabalenka started the 2023 Australian Open with 4-0 match record and 8-0 set record.
Although it seemed impossible, she improved that even further in Melbourne and after five matches, her record in 2023 is 9-0, with all 18 sets won. After beating Donna Vekic from Croatia, world no. 5 advanced to the semifinals.
The 24-year-old Belarusian entered the match as a favourite and she showed it since the start as she got the first break and led 3-1 in the first set. However, her opponent managed to break back as both players had incredible 15 break points combined. Despite having half of her opponent's, Sabalenka was the more effective player and got two breaks to win the first set 6-3 in an hour and a minute.
With Sabalenka's 100% success rate of winning a match after winning the first set in 2023, Vekic certainly feared what's coming next. The world no. 5 started the set with two breaks and soon she enjoyed a comfortable two-break lead, 3-0.
Her opponent managed to get one break back, but after the Belarusian added another one, no one could prevent her from winning the match in an hour and 51 minutes, 6-3, 6-2.
After another incredible performance, Sabalenka is only two matches away from winning her first Grand Slam title and she knows, that she won't be facing any player ranked higher than her.
Moreover, she won't be facing any player from the Top 20 as her semifinal opponent will be Magda Linette from Poland. The winner of this match will meet the 22nd-seeded Elena Rybakina, who is a 2022 Wimbledon champion, or the 24th-seeded Victoria Azarenka, who is a former world no. 1 and two-time Australian Open champion.
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