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Belarusian Arina Sabalenka reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open tennis tournament, after defeating Croatian Donna Vikic on Wednesday, to set a date with the surprise of the Polish tournament, Magda Linette, who reached the round of four for the first time in the “Grand Slam”.
On Wednesday, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the fifth seed, qualified for the semi-finals for the Australian Open Championshipthe first Grand Slam in tennis, for the first time in her career, by defeating Croatian Donna Vekic, 6-3, 6-2.
Sabalenka said, after emerging victorious from her first appearance in the quarter-finals of the Australian championship: “I have a very special feeling to be in the semi-finals here. .
Sabalenka will face her opponent, Magda Linette, who continued her surprises and reached the round of four for the first time in the “Grand Slam”.
The 24-year-old Belarusian struggled to reach her second consecutive semi-final in major tournaments and the fourth in her career, as she needed an hour and 49 minutes to get past Vekic, who was only in the second major quarter-final in her career, after Flushing Meadows in 2019, while the adult Lynette needed Age 30, to an hour and 27 minutes to beat Plishkova, runner-up in Flushing Meadows 2016 and Wimbledon 2021, 6-3, 7-5.
Sabalenka said, after emerging victorious from her first appearance in the quarter-finals of the Australian championship, “I have a very special feeling to be in the semi-finals here, it was a difficult match,” adding: “I am very happy with this victory and it was great to play here today, the atmosphere was amazing.”
The Belarusian competed in the Australian championship and is among the most prominent candidates to compete for the title after being crowned champion of the Adelaide tournament, and she has not lost any set in the eight matches she has played so far in 2023.
But she faced difficulty on Wednesday against a player who dropped the Belarusian five times out of six previous confrontations, including the second round of the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics and the quarter-finals of the American San Diego tournament last October.
Sabalenka struggled from the start and had to save her serve three times during the third game of the first set to advance 2-1, then when she thought she had made the difference in the fourth game, she decided to serve her opponent to advance 3-1, but the latter responded in kind in the next game.
The key to Sabalenka’s victory
However, Sabalenka took advantage of Vekic’s suffering on her serve and made the difference in the eighth game to advance 5-3, before settling the set 6-3 after an hour-long battle.
The Belarusian saw that her composure played a role, “by staying in the air no matter what happens. I think this was the key (to winning)”.
Sabalenka started the second set from where she finished the first and hit early by breaking her opponent’s serve twice to advance 3-0, taking advantage of Vicic’s double faults, which amounted to 12 errors.
After a tense eighth game that witnessed a tie three times, Sabalenka finally succeeded in preserving her serve and decisively, to end the group 6-2 and book her ticket to the round of four.
Unlike Sabalenka, who reached the semi-finals of Flushing Meadows in the past two years and the 2021 Wimbledon Championships, Vekic was struggling to make her way back to the top twenty club in the Professional Association rankings after the surgery that the 26-year-old underwent on her knee two years ago.
Sabalenka will now try to take another step towards the first major title in her career, but her task in the round of four will not be easy against Lynette, who continues the task of raising the Polish flag in the Australian championship after her compatriot Iga Shvontec, ranked first in the world, was eliminated from the final price by the Kazakh of Russian origin Elena Rybakina. .
Linette, ranked 46th in the world, who will enter the club of the top 30 for the first time in her career on Monday (the previous best rating was 33 in February 2020), said after her victory over Plishkova, “I am very touched, I really can’t believe it. It is a dream that turns into reality. I am grateful. And very happy,” addressing the audience: “Thank you for your encouragement and support, I really needed that.”
And she continued: “We continue the journey. I do not want to exaggerate the enthusiasm because we are still in the tournament,” and therefore she must focus on what awaits her against Sabalenka, who emerged victorious from the previous two confrontations with Poland, in 2018 in the final price of the Chinese Tianjin tournament 6-1, 6-3, and in 2021. In the first round of the Tokyo Olympics 6-2, 6-1.
France 24/AFP
