MELBOURNE: The Elena Rybakina-Victoria Azarenka Australian Open semifinal was a tussle of serve and return, skill and spirit, energy and experience. A clash of contradictory strengths. The lanky Kazakh knew she would have to keep it within the lines and let her tennis call the shots.
Azarenka, the two-time champion, on the other hand needed to propel the match into a different sphere. She was looking for the donnybrook gear but didn't quite nail it on a chilly, windswept evening.
The 33-year-old, who led by an early break before falling behind, then rallied to break the Wimbledon champion when she served for the set at 5-3. The Belarussian finally ran into a serve that was backed by nerve.
The 23-year-old Wimbledon champion sent down nine aces, winning 76% of the points on her first serve, to score a 7-6 (4), 6-3 win that took her to a second Grand Slam final. And with that she'll finally have a top-10 ranking on Monday. There were 56 winners in all in the match which would've delighted the pioneering Original Nine, seven of who — Valerie Ziegenfuss, Peaches Bartkowicz, Kristy Pigeon, Rosie Casals, Kerry Melville Reid, Judy Dalton and Billie Jean King — were at courtside, enjoying the distance the women's game has come. A ball they got rolling.
In Saturday's final, Rybakina will go up against another Belarussian, the fifth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, who put out Magda Linette, the story of the tournament — a 30-year-old, ranked 45, playing the last-four of a major semifinal for the first time. Sabalenka came through 7-6 (1), 6-2.
"It (the conditions) was much slower, the ball was heavier. I didn't think it was going to be that much of a difference," Rybakina said. "I had to adjust. I'm happy that I managed to win the first set, and then it was a bit better in the second."
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