Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka is through to another Australian Open final after beating Coco Gauff in straight sets.
This was a very interesting match, but some things were surprising. Sabalenka was expected to win it because her experience would allow her to be the calmer player when it mattered.
That did happen, but only much later in the match. She actually came out quite tense, missing a lot despite playing somewhat better. She had a 2-1 lead but gave it back. She then had a 4-2 lead and made it 5-2 but got broke when she served for the set at 5-3.
She would then get broken again to fall behind 5-6 but broke back to send the opening set into the tiebreak. It was a bit crazy because Sabalenka was the player who controlled how the match went, which was expected, but she wasn't quite as sharp enough until the tiebreak.
In the tiebreak, Sabalenka finally took over the match, outplaying her opponent 7-2. The second set was somewhat different because, this time around, both players had no issues with winning their service games.
There was much more stability in the game of both, allowing them to coast through the service games. Gauff did save some early break points but stabilized after that.
Midway through the second set, both ran into some problems, but Sabalenka wiggled out without facing a break point while Gauff had to work a bit harder. Still, it was 4-4 at that point, with Gauff stepping up to serve.
In the very next game, Sabalenka got another break chance and, this time, took it to lead 5-4. She would step up and close it out in the next game 7-6(2) 6-4. It was a tremendous 'revenge' performance from the Belarusian taking advantage of Gauff's second serve.
The American created a lot of pace on her first but hit it only 57 % of the time, which was a huge problem as she won only 39 % of her second serves. With her forehand still not being sensational, rallies were always going to favour Sabalenka, especially without the pressure that she had in New York.
Sabalenka won the match 7-6(2), 6-4 to reach the 2024 Australian Open final, awaiting the winner of the match between Qinwen Zheng and Dayana Yastremska.
Coco Gauff vs Aryna Sabalenka Match Stats:
| Coco Gauff | 6-7(2) 4-6 | Aryna Sabalenka |
| 5 | Aces | 4 |
| 8 | Double Faults | 2 |
| 57% | First Serve % | 77% |
| 65% (31/48) | Points Won After First Serve % | 71% (36/51) |
| 39% (14/36) | Points Won After Second Serve % | 47% (7/15) |
| 75% (3/4) | Break Point Conversion | 40% (4/10) |
| 22 | Winners | 33 |
| 21 | Unforced Errors | 28 |
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