Sabalenka beats Keys to reach Brisbane semi-finals
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka exacted revenge over Madison Keys on Friday in Brisbane, defeating the American 6-3, 6-3 in a repeat of last year’s Australian Open final.
Keys stunned Sabalenka nearly 12 months ago, but the Belarusian dominated this time to reach the semi-finals. Keys had played less than 24 hours earlier in a marathon three-hour win over Russia’s Diana Shnaider and was hampered by heavy thigh strapping, News.Az reports, citing AFP.
She struggled with uncharacteristic errors and a weak serve as Sabalenka fired a series of impressive returns.
Aiming for her third Melbourne title in four years when the Australian Open begins on January 18, Sabalenka said the Brisbane tournament is helping her find form ahead of the first Grand Slam of the year.
“I’m just trying to bring on court things I have been working on the pre-season, such as coming to the net,” she said. “I was working on my serve and it seems that it’s working a little bit better. I’m just trying to get some matches, get some wins, get the rhythm going again.”
Sabalenka will face Czech surprise package Karolina Muchova in the semi-finals after the 11th seed held her nerve to defeat world No. 5 Elena Rybakina 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.
Muchova raced through the first set before Rybakina found some rhythm to take the second. In the decider, Muchova broke the former Wimbledon champion once to secure victory, aided by Rybakina’s 42 unforced errors.
Muchova has won her last three encounters with Sabalenka, though the last was at the 2024 China Open. “If it’s a year and a half back, we both are different players than we were before,” Muchova said. “But yeah, these matches before were very long battles, I think always three-setters and could have gone either way.”
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