Aryna Sabalenka suffered to join her best friend Paula Badosa in the semi-finals of the Australian Open. Nothing was easy for the world No. 1 to defeat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (WTA 32) 6-2 2-6 6-3, after losing her first set of the fortnight.
Largely dominated in the second set by the Russian, Sabalenka lost her first two service games of the third set before regaining control. The outcome of the match could have been different if Anastasia Pavluchenkova had not misused three 2-0 balls in this last set.
Thursday in the semi-final, she will meet Paula Badosa (12), her best friend on the Circuit. She won the last five meetings which pitted her against the Spaniard. Victorious 7-5 6-4 over Coco Gauff, the Spaniard reached this Grand Slam semi-final stage for the first time.
The match was balanced up to 5 games throughout in the first set. Badosa then broke Gauff (6-5), after missing two first opportunities to take the American’s serve in the third game. The Spaniard then pocketed the set on her serve on her first set point.
In the second act, Badosa led 2-0 then 5-2. Gauff managed to erase one of her two late breaks, but not the second, her opponent finally winning the set 6-4.
it’s a dream come true
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“I am moved” Badosa said on court. I wanted to play my best tennis and I think I did it, I’m super proud of my level of play today“, savored the Spaniard, who had a long back injury. “I’ve been through a lot of challenges (…) For me, it’s a dream come true“, she added.
The first Spanish woman to reach the final four of a Grand Slam since Garbine Muguruza at the Australian Open in 2020, Badosa now leads 4-3 in her duels with Gauff. Until now, she had never won against a member of the top-10 in one of the four major tournaments.
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