Belarus’s Aryna Sabalenko recorded her 19th consecutive win by defeating 27th seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenko of Russia 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament at Melbourne Park.
With two more wins, Sabalenko can complete a hat-trick of Australian Open Grand Slam wins. If she becomes champion, she will become the first female player to score a hat-trick of titles in 24 years. Martina Hingis last recorded a hat-trick of Australian Open Grand Slam wins from 1997 to 1999. Sabalenko has already won the Australian Open in 2023 and 2024. She will face 11th seed Paula Badosa in the semi-finals. Badosa caused an upset by defeating Coco Goff of America 7-5, 6-4 in the quarter-finals. Badosa will become the first Spanish woman to play in the semi-finals in five years. Finally in 2020, Garbine Muguruza entered the last-4. It took Sabalenko one hour and 53 minutes to win the match. After two sets were tied at 1–1, the third and deciding set was tied at 3–3 as Sabalenko won three consecutive games to turn the match in her favour.
