Sabalenka stays perfect, sets Rybakina final in Brisbane

Top seed Aryna Sabalenka beat No 8 seed Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the final of the Brisbane Open at the Queensland Tennis Center on Saturday night.

The Belarusian dominated former No 1 Azarenka, firing down 10 aces and saving three of three break points across the match, while winning her opponent’s serve on three occasions.

Sabalenka has now won 15 consecutive matches in Australia, having won the Adelaide International 1 and the Australian Open this time last year.

Sabalenka sets Australian Open final rematch against Rybakina

Sabalenka, ranked No 2, will play Kazakh Elena Rybakina, the second seed, in the Brisbane Open final. The clash will be a rematch of last year’s Australian Open final, which Sabalenka won in three sets, coming from behind to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 last January.

“We [are] both serving really well,” said Sabalenka, looking ahead to the title match. “We [are] both playing really super aggressive tennis. I think that’s why all the matches are pretty tight. We both put each other under so much pressure. I think that’s why it makes our matches really, really great battles.”

Neither woman has lost a set so far in 2024, and the pair split their four meetings 2-2 last year.

In the previous rounds of the Brisbane tournament, Aryna Sabalenka won against Italian Lucia Bronzetti (6-3, 6-0), Chinese Lin Zhu, the No 15 seed (6-1, 6-0) and Russian Daria Kasatkina, the No 5 seed (6-1, 6-4).

Azarenka, ranked No 23, defeated Russian Anna Kalinskaya (6-1, 7-6 (8)), Frenchwoman Clara Burel (7-5, 6-2) and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the No 3 seed (6-3, 3-6, 7-5) earlier in the tournament.

Brisbane WTA 500, other semi-final result (Queensland Tennis Center, hard, USD 1.736.763):

• Elena Rybakina beat Linda Noskova: 6-3, 6-2

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WTA Brisbane: Sabalenka sets up all-Belarussian semi-final against Azarenka

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