Aryna Sabalenka and Barbora Krejcikova were mooted to be asked to play on Margaret Court Arena at the Australian Open due to the length of Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz and the Andrey Rublev – Jannik Sinner clash still to come, but time didn’t wait for the defending champion as she breezed past her opponent in just 71 minutes to reach the semi-finals.
Sabalenka will now face Coco Gauff in the semi-finals after taking down Krejcikova 6-2, 6-3 in a near flawless display from the former World No.1 who reaches back-to-back semi-finals in Melbourne, it is 12 consecutive wins and is yet to drop a set with only 16 games lost in five matches. It is also six consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals, staying power from the Belarusian.
She broke right at the start of the tie finding her range after an early wobble as she tagged onto the Krejcikova serve and whipped an impressive forehand to Krejcikova to snap the first of two break points and take the impetus at 2-1 which she consolidated at 3-1 starting with an ace and then firing a backhand winner down the line and finishing it with a superb serve and a forehand right into the corner. She was firing on all cylinders early.
This only continued as Sabalenka took a double break with Krejcikova starting to encounter errors due to the excellence of Sabalaenka who went 4-1 up but the Czech ace hit straight back at 4-2 with a break of her own to keep it interesting. Only for Sabalenka to regain her double break advantage and then take the set after an ace to start and she raced through three set points.
It looked like similar one way traffic in the second with Sabalenka bringing up a break at 2-1 and then holding serve at 3-1 despite unforced errors creeping in at times. She went 4-1 up with another break only for Krejcikova to keep it interesting and the former Roland Garros champion made it 4-3 after Sabalenka looked on course for another break. She looked wobbly with a double fault but hit back to make it 5-3 and instead of another set, it was victory for the Belarusian as she breezed through her last service game effectively.
Defending champ and #2 Aryna Sabalenka plays a perfect match to easily beat former RG champ Barbora Krejcikova 6-2, 6-3 and reach back to back semifinals at the #AusOpen.
12 consecutive wins in Melbourne.
Yet to drop a set. 16 games lost in five matches.
6 consecutive GS SFs. pic.twitter.com/dut5N3CNEI
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) January 23, 2024
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