Second career grand slam final! The Slayer of Christmas will play for the title

In the first women’s semi-final of the Australian Open, Elena Rybakina, the slayer of Iga ¦wiątek, faced Victoria Azarenka, who defeated Jessica Pegula, seeded with the “three” in the quarter-finals. The Belarusian is also a two-time winner of the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013. However, the favorite of the duel was Kazakhstan, whose ranking (25th WTA) does not reflect her position in world tennis due to the lack of points for last year’s Wimbledon, which she won.

Before the match, Rybakina was the leader of the tournament in the number of aces. She had 35 of them on her account, but even more impressive were the statistics of Kazaszka’s first websites that did not return to her website. They account for as much as 53%, which would be the best result also for men who played at least two matches.

Rybakina like a machine. She got stuck…

This was confirmed at the opening of the semi-final match. Already in the first game she sent four aces. Unexpected problems arose at 2-2 when Azarenka broke first. These were her first points on an opponent’s serve, not counting a double fault. However, the 32-year-old could not confirm the advantage. Despite the great opening of her service game from 30:0, she lost four points in a row. Rybakina quickly made up for the losses, impressed with the number of finishing strokes, especially from the backhand, and the Belarusian was helpless at times.

The 23-year-old used the momentum and again broke her rival at 5:3. She faced a chance to close the set on her serve. Despite the state at 0:30, she led to a set ball, but then she completely stopped hitting the first serve. Azarenka sensed the moment that she could return to the game. She used the second break point and then equalized with her serve at 5:5. She kept going with the punch, and the 23-year-old Kazaszka had more and more service problems. The machine definitely jammed.

The Belarusian quickly left for 0:40 and it seemed that she was about to face a great chance to win the first game, especially since Kazaszka started to play nervously. But then the Wimbledon 2022 winning class kicked in. Despite her problems, she scored five points in a row from the endline and held her serve. Azarenka did the same and the set was decided by a tiebreak. Returners won more points in it. Rybakina was ahead of the four.

Azarenka’s increasing service problems and a quick second set

The two-time Australian Open winner was in an increasingly difficult situation. She lost a tight first set, and in the second she was quickly broken. First at 1:2, then there were chances for 1:4. Azarenka hit the first serve less and less, and the second Rybakina attacked very aggressively, which made the 32-year-old immediately in deep defense. Back then, she managed to get out of big trouble and still held up in this matchup, despite the break difference.

At 1:3 Azarenka was able to get out of trouble, but at 2:4 not anymore. Again, she had big problems on the second pass, so she took a risk. Two double service faults brought Kazaszka closer to another break, and it came true. The Belarusian in the second set won only 2 out of 15 points after the second serve. She managed to break off her rival, but it did not help her. 7:6, 6:3 for Elena Rybakina.