Melbourne, Australia — Not even a one-point penalty for slowing down. Arina SabalenkaIn the Australian Open final for the fourth time in a row.
Top ranked Sabalenka won elina svitolina Moved to a 6-2, 6-3 victory Thursday night toward a third Australian Open title in four years.
In the title match, the Belarusian will face the fifth seeded player. elena rybakinaWho defeated the sixth seeded player jessica pegula 6-3, 7-6 (7). Rybakina won Wimbledon in 2022 and was runner-up to Sabalenka in Australia in 2023.
All four players reached the semi-finals without losing a set – a first in Australia in 56 years – and Sabalenka and Svitolina were each on a 10-match win streak to start the season after titles in the warm-up events.
Sabalenka kept both of her streaks alive. She hit 19 winners and broke Svitolina twice in the first set. She finished with 29 winners against 12 winners against her Ukrainian rival.
As has become customary for the Ukrainians against players from Russia and Belarus, there was no handshake at the net. There was no group photo before the match.
Sabalenka is the third woman in the Open era to reach four consecutive singles finals at the Australian Open, after Evonne Goolagong and Martina Hingis.
“It’s an incredible accomplishment, but the work is not done yet,” an emotional Sabalenka said in her on-court TV interview. “I’m watching his game. [Svitolina] Was playing incredible. I felt like I had to come forward and put as much pressure on him as possible. I’m glad the level was there. I think I played very good tennis.”
The only problem was at the beginning of the fourth game. Hindrances are distractions that prevent a player from making a shot and can also include loud noises from an opponent.
Umpire Luis Azemar Engel ruled that Sabalenka grunted for a long time after swinging her forehand. It looked like the shot would go long but landed inside the baseline, giving Svitolina a chance to play. Then the umpire intervened.
Sabalenka asked for video review, but the point penalty was upheld when Azemar Engel confirmed his decision that the grunt was longer than normal.
This did not trouble Sabalenka for long. He broke serve in that game and maintained control for most of the remainder of the match.
Svitolina’s only break of serve came early in the second set. But Sabalenka quickly rallied and won the next five games.
After reaching her first semi-final in Australia and winning the title at a warm-up tournament in New Zealand, Svitolina will return to the top 10 for the first time since taking maternity leave in 2022.
The Auckland title was her first return to the tour since the 2025 season was ended early due to a mental health break. He said that rest and time prolonged his career.
“Obviously very happy with the wins here and the two weeks in New Zealand,” he said. “Disappointed not to get it done tonight, but it’s very difficult when you’re playing the No. 1 player in the world who is really on fire.”
Svitolina was playing in her fourth semi-final at Wimbledon in 2019 and 2023 and at the 2019 US Open – but was not able to reach the championship match again.
“It was really complicated for me today,” she said, “but, yeah, I just want to take the positives from the last weeks, the beginning of the year, and just carry them over to the season.”
