Aryna Sabalenka did not quite go the full Kevin Keegan, but it was a near-run thing. Channelling the spirit of the English football manager who famously declared he would “love it” if his Newcastle United team pipped Manchester United to the 1996 Premier League title, Sabalenka was positively gleeful as she contemplated facing Coco Gauff, the American teenager who denied her the US Open crown last September, for a place in the final at Melbourne Park.
“I love it, I love it” said Sabalenka, the defending champion, of her rematch with Gauff. “After the US Open, I really wanted that revenge.”
Such openness is rare in the ever-guarded world of elite sport. Gunning for revenge is not the done thing, and it takes a certain kind of heart-on-sleeve character, a certain brand of chutzpah, to publicly declare vengeance as a source of motivation. Keegan, who would perhaps recognise in Sabalenka a kindred spirit, never did get the cathartic title win he craved, his Newcastle side entering a late tailspin as he refused to rein in his commitment to all-out attack. Sabalenka lives by a similar philosophy, and it served her well as she claimed a 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 victory to move into a second straight final at Melbourne Park, the first woman to do since Serena Williams in 2017.
“I think in New York I played a little bit passive tennis,” said Sabalenka, whose 20 net approaches and 33 winners on this occasion spoke of a woman resolved not to repeat past mistakes.
“I didn’t put so much pressure on her. I mean, I did in the first set, but then I kind of slowed down and started just trying to play rallies with her, which was not working well.
“The whole pre-season I was working on those approach shots, on coming to the net and finishing the point [at] the net. I’m super happy that I was able to do that on court today, and I think that’s the difference between these two matches.”
Through to a third consecutive grand slam final on hard courts, Sabalenka, who has yet to drop a drop set at the tournament, will face Qinwen Zheng in Saturday’s final. The 21-year-old from China, seeded 12th, defeated Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine 6-4, 6-4.
Unbeaten in 13 matches at Melbourne Park, Sabalenka has steadily grown in stature over the past 17 months, reaching the semi-finals or better at each of the past six majors. But while the odds clearly favour the holder, it will not have gone unnoticed in Zheng’s camp that Sabalenka has also shown a tendency to falter at critical moments. She has squandered one-set leads against Iga Swiatek and Gauff at the US Open, lost to Karolina Pliskova and Ons Jabeur from a set up at at Wimbledon, and missed a match point against Karolina Muchova at last year’s French Open. It is not for want of opportunity that last year’s Australian Open victory remains Sabalenka’s sole success at this level.
History threatened to repeat itself against Gauff, who clawed her way back from 2-5 down in the opening set to come within two points of clinching it, and fought tigerishly throughout the second. This time, though, Sabalenka would not be denied, even when Gauff produced a brilliant 121mph body serve to stave off a set point at 5-4 in the opener. She kept swinging freely, determined to play the match on her own terms, and her conviction was equally unwavering two games later, with the American serving at 6-5, 30-0. After pounding her way to parity, Sabalenka sustained her momentum into the tiebreak, winning six of the first seven points to establish an unassailable lead.
An unreturnable serve sealed the set, and the 25-year-old’s belief in her fearsome delivery was equally evident when, after breaking nine games later, she produced two of only four aces on the night to serve out the win.
“I had chances in both sets, but she played better tonight,” said Gauff, who struggled in the previous round against Marta Kostyuk but performed markedly better here, after missing out on the opportunity to climb to a career-high ranking of No 2 in the world.
“I felt like I did my best with the game plan that I had. I think it just came down to a couple of points, and that’s tennis.”
Like Gauff, Zheng’s previous best run at a major also came in New York, where she reached the quarter-finals last September before falling to Sabalenka in straight sets. That experience served her well against Yastremska, who made an auspicious start to the biggest match of her career, claiming an early break, only to relinquish the advantage immediately with four double faults. Grateful for the second chance, Zheng promptly held to love before forging ahead in the seventh game after the Ukrainian suffered an abdominal injury that required a medical timeout.
“Definitely she has a lot of nice opportunities to win a grand slam,” said Yastremska, 23, of her impressive opponent. “I think she’s a great player. She has powerful shots and a really good serve.
“If she will be able to stay stable emotionally, and if she will be able to hold her level up like she did today pretty well in important moments, she can win – and she can win, I will say, even pretty easy. But it’s going to be a good fight.”
With Sabalenka seeking to become the first woman to mount a successful title defence since her compatriot Victoria Azarenka in 2013, and Zheng aiming to mark the 10th anniversary of Li Na’s victory by becoming only the second Chinese player in history to lift the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, a good fight is the least it should be.