Sabalenka Powers Her Way Into Fourth Consecutive Australian Open Final

Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Sabalenka (photo: Jürgen Hasenkopf)

MELBOURNE/WASHINGTON, January 29, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

Aryna Sabalenka became just the third player in the Open Era to reach four consecutive women’s singles finals at the Australian Open, after her convincing semifinal victory over No. 12 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine on Rod Laver Arena Thursday evening.

Make no mistake; Sabalenka is at home Down Under, where the AO seems to bring out her best tennis year after year.

The World No. 1 and top-seeded Belarusian needed just 76 minutes to wrap up her 6-2, 6-3 semifinal triumph against the World No. 12 Svitolina. Sabalenka has strung together six impressive wins during the Melbourne fortnight without dropping a set – she’s undefeated to start the season (11-0) – and has already won one title at Brisbane.

The two-time AO champion will go after her third Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup on Saturday evening against World No. 5 and fifth seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, who fought past World No. 6 and sixth-seeded Jessica Pegula of the United States in straight sets in the other semifinal match.

Sabalenka joins Evonne Goolagong, who appeared in seven AO finals between 1971 and 1977, and Martina Hingis, who competed in six AO finals between 1997 and 2002. After winning consecutive Melbourne titles in 2023 and 2024, Sabalenka was a finalist last year. Now, she will face Rybakina, whom she beat in the 2023 AO final for her first major title.

“An incredible achievement” is how the 27-year-old Sabalenka summed up her victory over Svitolina, 31, in which she struck 29 winners, converted four of seven break points and outpointed her opponent 65-46. She closed out the semifinal victory with a cross-court forehand winner, then raised her left fist in celebration. “But the job’s not done yet.

“Super happy with the win, she’s such a tough opponent, was playing really incredible tennis throughout the whole week and just super happy to be through this tough match.”

Svitolina, who reached her fourth Grand Slam semifinal, was denied her first trip to a major final, again. After beginning the new season by winning a tune-up title in Auckland, Svitolina was impressive in putting together five-straight wins to reach her first AO semifinal. Despite suffering her first defeat in 2026, Svitolina (10-1) is projected to return to the WTA Top 10 next week.

“[I’m] definitely very, very happy with the two weeks here and in New Zealand as well. … It’s of course very difficult when you’re playing world No. 1,” Svitolina said during here post-match news conference.

“But [I] just want to take positives from the past weeks and the beginning of the year and just carry them through the season.”

Rybakina rises to the occasion

In the second semifinal, Rybakina put away Pegula on her fourth match-point opportunity after saving two set points during the second-set tiebreaker to win, 6-3, 7-6 (7), in one hour and 40 minutes on Rod Laver Arena. The victory advanced her to her second AO final and third major final overall.

In their seventh career meeting, Rybakina won 73 percent (29 of 40) of her first-serve points, hit 31 winners – including six aces – and made 29 unforced errors. She converted four of 10 break points and outpointed Pegula 81-68.

The 26-year-old Rybakina succeeded with power. Her sixth ace, at 7-all in the tie-break, set up her fourth match point against Pegula. She won with a down-the-line backhand winner.

“It means a lot,” Rybakina said of her winning and advancing to the final during her on-court interview after improving to 8-1 this season. “It was a tough battle. It was an epic second set. I’m really glad I managed to win. Jessica played so well in the second set. She fought until the end. I’m super happy to be in the final.”

Rybakina added: “I think for me it’s important that I started this tournament maybe not at my best form, but throughout the tournament it improved, and I played better each match.”

As for Pegula, she was the last American standing – man or woman – in the AO singles draws. The loss to Rybakina dropped her to 8-2 on the young new season. During her post-match news conference, the 31-year-old American said she had no regrets.

“Sometimes when you’re on the brink of losing everything you get a little clarity because you’re kind of just like, ‘Screw it, I’m just going to try and stay in this,’” she said. “I played a couple of really good points to save the match points, and, you know, she missed a couple short balls … a couple free points to take some pressure off.”

Pegula added: “It’s tough, I had an amazing tournament here. I played some really good tennis, beat a lot of really good players, put up a fight tonight, but obviously I want to win the tournament. That always sucks when you don’t.”

Around the Australian Open

The finals are set for both men’s and women’s doubles following Thursday’s semifinal-round action. 

• Men’s doubles semifinals: Australian wild cards Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans reached the title match with their 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Luke Johnson of Great Britain and Jan Zielinski of Poland in one hour and 54 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

After starting well, then staggering mid-match, the Aussie duo came back and finished their win with grit. Kubler is bidding for his second AO doubles title after winning his first with Rinky Hijikata – also wild cards – in 2023.

In Saturday’s title match, Australians will face No. 6 seeds Christian Harrison of the United States and Neal Skupski of Great Britain, who ousted No. 3 seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, 6-3, 7-6 (7), in one hour and 37 minutes on Margaret Court Arena. The American/British duo outpointed their opponents 75-63. Skupski is through to his third Grand Slam doubles final in the last four majors. 

• Women’s doubles semifinals: Saturday’s final will pair a couple of seeded teams – No. 4 seeds Elise Mertens of Belgium and Zhang Shuai of China, who ended the run of unseeded Ena Shibahara of Japan and 41-year-old Vera Zvonareva of Russia, 6-3, 6-2, in one hour and 21 minutes on Margaret Court Arena; and No. 7 seeds Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia, who beat No. 5 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Luisa Stefani of Brazil, 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, in two hours and 20 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

• The mixed doubles final will be decided Friday afternoon on Rod Laver Arena. Australian wild cards Olivia Gadecki and John Peers will defend their 2025 title against unseeded Kristina Mladenovic and Manuel Guinard of France.

Thursday’s Australian Open results

Friday’s Australian Open order of play

Updated men’s singles draw

Updated women’s singles draw

Quick hits

Thursday was Women & Girls Day at Australian Open 2026. The much-anticipated women’s semifinals featured an all-girls ball kid squad and a coin toss with one of Tennis Australia’s Super 10s girls.

Dami Im, an Australian singer-songwriter and former X Factor finalist who has risen as one of the country’s most exciting voices – with chart-topping singles and acclaimed live performances – performed on Rod Laver Arena ahead of the women’s semifinals.

By the numbers

• Since 2023, Aryna Sabalenka has played 45 matches in Australian and won 43 of them.

• Elena Rybakina‘s 37 wins since last year’s Wimbledon Championships is the most on the WTA Tour.

• This is the fifth time in the Open Era that all four women’s players have reached the semifinals without dropping a set – after the 1970 Australian Open, 1976 US Open, 1980 US Open and 1995 French Open.

“Quotable …”

“I feel like I should not be allowed to be sad. I have this amazing opportunity to play on center court here, represent my country, to do it in a decent way … to have an opportunity to use my voice and just be there for my people. I feel like for the past weeks, they’ve been really carrying me through with great emotions. I cannot complain. People are living a horrible and terrifying life in Ukraine. I should not be allowed to really be sad. I’m a very lucky person.”

– Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, during her post-match news conference Thursday, after losing her semifinal match to Aryna Sabalenka.

 

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