MELBOURNE, Australia — Even a penalty point for obstruction didn’t slow Aryna Sabalenka’s bid to reach her fourth consecutive Australian Open final.
Top-ranked Sabalenka beat Elena Svitolina 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday night to move just one win away from her third Australian Open title in four years.
A rematch of the 2023 final was scheduled in the second semi-final, where the fifth seed eliminated sixth seed Jessica Pegula (Elena Rybakina) 6-3, 7-6 (7).
“It’s a great fight (against Sabalenka in 2023),” Rybakina said. “In the end, she played a little better and deserved it. I want to enjoy the finals and hopefully I can be better than I was today. I’m excited.”
Rybakina spent most of her semifinals in singles before she got match point. The 2022 Wimbledon champion missed three match points on Pegula’s serve and was later broken twice in the match.
Pegula fought back and held two set points in the decider, but failed, and Rybakina finally sealed the victory 29 minutes after the first match point.
“It was really stressful,” Rybakina said. She admitted she had flashbacks to the 2024 Open, when she lost 22-20 to Anna Blinkova in three sets, setting the record for the longest women’s decider in Grand Slam history.
“I’m proud no matter what the situation was. It was very tight and I persevered,” she said of her win over Pegula. “I fought for every point.”
All four players reached the semi-finals without losing a set, the first time in 56 years in Australia. After winning the warm-up match, Sabalenka and Svitolina each started the new season with 10 consecutive wins.
Sabalenka maintains her two-match winning streak. She hit 19 winners in the first set and broke Svitolina’s serve twice. She ended up with 29 wins to 12 wins against her Ukrainian opponent.
As is customary for Ukrainians against Russian and Belarusian players, there were no handshakes at the net. There was no group photo taken before the game.
Sabalenka is the third woman in the Open era to reach four consecutive Australian Open singles finals, following Evan Goolagong and Martina Hingis.
“This is an incredible achievement, but the work is not done yet,” an emotional Sabalenka said during an on-court television interview. “I’ve been watching her matches and (Svitolina) played unbelievable. I felt like I had to step in and put as much pressure on her as possible. I’m glad her level is there. I thought I played great tennis.”
The only problem was a snag at the start of the fourth game. Obstruction is interference that prevents a player from shooting and may include loud noises from the opponent.
Referee Louise Azemar Enzel believed Sabalenka made a prolonged grunt after hitting a forehand. The shot appeared to be a long shot, but it landed just inside the baseline, giving Svitolina the chance to continue playing. That’s when the referee intervened.
Sabalenka requested a video review, but after seeing the footage, Azemar Nzel confirmed her decision that the grunt was longer than usual.
That didn’t hurt Sabalenka. She broke serve in that game.
“This actually never happens to me … especially when I grunt,” Sabalenka said. “Then she called me and I was like, ‘What? What happened to you?'”
Sabalenka said it annoyed her but also served as motivation.
“It actually helped me – I became more aggressive. I wasn’t happy with the call, but it definitely helped me win the match,” Sabalenka said. She added with a laugh, “So if she (Azemar Engzell) wants to do it again – like, I want to make sure she doesn’t get scared – just call. That’ll help me.”
After reaching the semi-finals for the first time in Australia and winning the title in New Zealand, Svitolina will return to the top ten for the first time since her maternity leave in 2022.
The Auckland title was her first return to the Tour since ending the 2025 season prematurely due to mental health reasons. She said breaks and breaks have lengthened her career.
“I’m absolutely very, very happy about the two weeks here and in New Zealand and winning,” she said. “It’s a shame not to advance tonight, but it’s very difficult when you face the No. 1 in the world and he was really hot.”
Svitolina was playing in her fourth Grand Slam semifinal – Wimbledon in 2019 and 2023 and the U.S. Open in 2019 – but again failed to qualify for the championship.
“Today was really complicated for me,” she said, “but, yeah, I just want to take the positive lessons from the last few weeks, the beginning of the year, and carry them into the season.”
