Australian Open: Aryna Sabalenka overpowers Paula Badosa to near 3rd consecutive Melbourne title

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — 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 Thursday night to return to the final.

Just 10 minutes in, the No. 1-ranked Sabalenka was down a break and trailed 2-0, 40-love. She kept making unforced errors, shaking her head or gesturing toward her team after many.

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

Sabalenka grabbed four games in a row and five of six to lead 5-3 and soon was ending that set with a 114 mph (184 kph) ace. She broke to lead 2-1 in the second set — helped by two double-faults by Badosa — and again to go up 4-1.

The key statistic: Sabalenka finished with a 32-11 advantage in winners.

That’s the sort of excellence that helped Sabalenka win her first major trophy at Melbourne Park in 2023, and she since has added two more — in Australia a year ago and at the U.S. Open last September.

The last woman to reach three finals in a row at the year’s first Grand Slam tournament was Serena Williams, who won two from 2015-17. Martina Hingis was the most recent woman with a threepeat, doing it from 1997-1999.

Thursday night’s second match was No. 2 Iga Swiatek vs. No. 19 Madison Keys. Swiatek is a five-time major champion who entered the semifinals having dropped a total of just 14 games through five matches as she bids to reach the final at Melbourne Park for the first time. Keys went in on a 10-match winning streak, including taking the title at a tuneup event in Adelaide, and was hoping to reach her second Grand Slam title match after finishing as the runner-up at the 2017 U.S. Open.

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; the men’s is Sunday.

Sabalenka and Badosa did their best to avoid any eye contact for much of the evening, whether up at the net for the coin toss or when they crossed paths at changeovers.

One exception came early in the second set, when Badosa tumbled to the court and flung her racket away to avoid injury. Badosa immediately put up a thumb to make clear she was fine. When a replay was shown on stadium video screens, Sabalenka joked that Badosa took a dive, and they both smiled.

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

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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press