Melbourne: Aryna Sabalenka took a big step towards retaining her Australian Open crown by beating American fourth seed Coco Gauff 7-6(2), 6-4 in a thriller on Thursday to reach the final where she will meet China's Zheng Qinwen. Zheng got the better of Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska 6-4, 6-4 in the second semifinal.
In a rematch of their US Open final in September, the two reigning hardcourt Grand Slam champions made contrasting starts as Belarusian Sabalenka fired an ace and revved up her forehand to hold before pouncing on two double faults by Gauff to break.
Gauff hit back right away and the pair swapped breaks again but the 19-year-old New York champion continued to teeter on her serve, allowing Sabalenka to settle her nerves after going 6-5 down in a frantic spell to clinch the first set in a tiebreak.
The pair were locked together until 4-4 in the second set as Sabalenka countered Gauff's speed with power and the 25-year-old second seed edged ahead with a decisive break when the teenager hit a shot long before sealing victory with two massive serves.
Zheng ended the fairytale run of qualifier Yastremska to reach her first Grand Slam final.
The points were short and sharp for most of the battle and followed the same pattern in both sets, with the two swapping breaks early on then Zheng snaring the extra break in the seventh game both times.
In the first set, Zheng was able to keep up the pressure on Yastremska, blasting cross-court winners off both wings, and left the 23-year-old Ukrainian clutching her abdomen in pain.
After taking a medical timeout off court, Yastremska returned with Zheng holding in the next game.
Yastremska extended the set winning the following game with a clever drop shot, but she piled on the errors in the next game, handing Zheng the first set.
The 12th seed started off stronger in the second set, holding her first service game to love and then snatching an early break after a string of errors from Yastremska, but the Ukrainian broke straight back.
Zheng broke again in the seventh game, helped by a double fault from Yastremska and a shanked shot that flew long. Yastremska bravely held in the next game, with Zheng fluffing an easy smash, but the Chinese player snared the match with an unreturnable serve.
