MELBOURNE, Australia – Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka avenged a US Open final loss to Coco Gauff and became the first woman since Serena Williams to reach back-to-back finals at the Australian Open on Thursday.
Sabalenka attacked Gauff's serve during the 7-6 (2), 6-4 semifinal victory.
She will face No. 12 Zheng Qinwen or Dayana Yastremska in Saturday's championship decider. Zheng and Yastremska, number 93 in the ranking, were playing in their first Grand Slam semifinal.
Sabalenka is on a 13-match streak at Melbourne Park, where she made her Grand Slam breakthrough last year. Williams reached consecutive finals here in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Gauff reached the semifinals undefeated in 2024 after winning a title in Auckland, New Zealand. The 19-year-old American was on a streak of 12 consecutive major victories and was attempting to be the first player since Naomi Osaka in 2020-21 to win back-to-back US Open and Australian Open titles.
She had figured out how to beat Sabalenka in New York in September to win her first major title, but this time she didn't have the answers against the only player in the final four with semifinal experience in Australia.
The first set featured six breaks of serve, and both players missed opportunities to finish serve.
Sabalenka led 5-2 and missed a set point while Gauff held firm and went on a four-game run to take a 6-5 lead. Gauff was also unable to deliver, as Sabalenka's successful returns continued to cause her problems.
In the tiebreaker, Sabalenka took a 5-1 lead. Chants of “Coco, Coco” were heard around Rod Laver Arena, but they didn't help Gauff.
Almost half an hour after her first set point, Sabalenka got five more. He secured the second of them with a great deflected serve.
Gauff was able to win points on just three of her 17 second serves in the first set, and that made her work harder and led to her double faulting.
The second set was close, until Sabalenka got a break of serve in the ninth game. He missed his first match point when Gauff saved with a forehand winner to end a 12-shot rally.
An ace up the middle earned her a second match point and Sabalenka was victorious after 1 hour and 42 minutes.
