No. 5 seed Aryna Sabalenka defeated Magda Linette at the Australian Open 7-6(1), 6-2, securing her spot in her first Grand Slam final. Sabalenka, who won the Adelaide International 1 three weeks ago to win her 11th career title, has now won 10 straight matches, including a career-high 20 straight sets. Her 15-match victory streak, which included three titles at Ostrava 2020, Linz 2020, and Abu Dhabi 2021, is the longest of her career to date.
The 24-year-old had fallen to Karolina Pliskova at Wimbledon 2021, Leylah Fernandez at the US Open 2021, and Iga Swiatek at the US Open 2022 in each of her previous three Grand Slam semifinal matches. She joins Gabriela Sabatini, Zina Garrison, Lindsay Davenport, and Jennifer Capriati as the sixth player in the Open Era to advance to a major final after suffering three or more semifinal defeats.
Sabalenka will compete against Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup final, which will determine a brand-new champion. All three of their prior meetings—at Wimbledon in 2021, Wuhan in 2019, and Abu Dhabi in 2021—were won by Sabalenka in three sets.