Melbourne (Australia), January 23: Aryna Sabalenka continued her dominant run at the Australian Open, defeating 11th seed Paula Badosa 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals to secure a spot in her third consecutive final at Melbourne Park.
The defending champion extended her winning streak at the tournament to 20 matches, maintaining an undefeated 2025 season with 11 straight victories. Sabalenka, 26, is the first woman to reach three Australian Open finals since Serena Williams and the youngest since Martina Hingis.
With this win, Sabalenka improved her head-to-head record against Badosa to 6-2 and will now face either world number two Iga Swiatek or 14th seed Madison Keys in the final. She is also aiming to become the first woman to win three consecutive Australian Open titles since Hingis, who accomplished the feat from 1997 to 1999.
Badosa, who reached her first Grand Slam semifinal, will return to the WTA top 10 with this performance. She also achieved her first top-10 victory at a Grand Slam by defeating Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals.
Badosa started strong, leading 2-0 and 40-0 in the opening set, but Sabalenka fought back, breaking Badosa in a lengthy eight-minute game to level the match. The world number one then won four consecutive games to take a 4-2 lead, never facing another break point. The match, which lasted just under 90 minutes, ended with Sabalenka hitting 26 winners and committing 18 unforced errors, while Badosa managed only eight winners and 14 unforced errors.