Aryna Sabalenka bests Badosa, approaches 3rd Australian Open title

MELBOURNE, Australia – Aryna Sabalenka moved one win away from becoming the first woman since 1999 to win three consecutive Australian Open titles, recovering from a slow start to beat good friend Paula Badosa 6-4, 6- 2 on Thursday and return to final.

“I have goosebumps. I’m so proud of myself. I’m proud of my team that we were able to put ourselves in a situation like that,” said the no. 1-seeded Sabalenka, who will face no. 2 Iga Swiatek or no. 19 Madison Keys to the Championship. “If I’m going to be able to get into the story (of the books), that’s going to mean a lot. It’s going to mean the world to me.”

Just 10 minutes into her semi-final, Sabalenka was down a break and trailing 2-0, 40-laws. She made unforced errors, shook her head or gestured to her entourage in the stands after many of them.

But the 26-year-old from Belarus quickly figured things out, especially when the Rod Laver Arena’s retractable roof was closed late in the first set due to a drizzle. She straightened her strokes, often using big returns and groundstrokes to overpower 11th-seeded Badosa, who had eliminated No. 3 Coco Gauff on Tuesday to reach her first major semifinal.

Sabalenka grabbed four straight games and five of six to lead 5-3 and soon ended that set with a 114 mph ace. She broke to lead 2-1 in the second set – helped by two double faults from Badosa – and again for 4-1.

“She started being very, very aggressive. Everything was working. Everything she did today, touching today, could turn to gold,” said Badosa, who considered retirement last year while suffering a stress fracture in the back. “If she plays like this, I think we can already give her the trophy.”

The key stat: Sabalenka finished with a 32-11 advantage in wins.

It’s that kind of excellence that helped Sabalenka win her first major trophy at Melbourne Park in 2023, and she has since added two more: in Australia a year ago and at the US Open in September.

The last woman to reach three consecutive finals at the first Grand Slam of the year was Serena Williams, who won two from 2015 to 2017. Martina Hingis was the last woman to achieve a three-peat, doing it from 1997 to 1999.

The men’s semifinals are Friday: Novak Djokovic vs. Alexander Zverev, followed by defending champion Jannik Sinner vs. Ben Shelton. The women’s final is Saturday; men’s is Sunday.

Sabalenka and Badosa did their best to avoid eye contact for most of the evening, whether they were up at the net for a coin toss or crossing paths in transition.

One exception came early in the second set when Badosa tumbled to the court and threw her racket away to avoid injury. Badosa immediately gave a thumbs up to make it clear she was fine. When a replay was shown on stadium video screens, Sabalenka pantomimed to indicate Badosa took a dive and they both smiled.

When the match was over, they met at the net for a long hug.

During Sabalenka’s on-court interview, she joked about perhaps taking Badosa – who was sitting in a hallway at the time with her head bowed – on a shopping spree to settle things with her and pay for what the Spaniard wants.

“After a couple of games against each other, we talked and decided to put it aside,” said Sabalenka, who leads their head-to-head series 6-2. “She wanted it bad. We both wanted it bad. … No matter what happens on the field, we’ll be friends after our games.”

Sabalenka paused before joking, “I hope she’s still my friend. I’m sure she’ll hate me for the next hour or day. I’m okay with that.”

On the way to the dressing room, Sabalenka stopped to comfort Badosa.

Later, when told what Sabalenka said about paying the bill at some stores, Badosa said: “It’s going to be something really expensive, because now I think she doubled the prize money. So she won’t have a problem.”