Paula Badosa came across a machine. The Catalan ran, she made an effort, she fought and she tried. But it wasn’t enough. In front, the world number 1 knocked her down. The Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka was ruthless and submitted her 6-4, 6-2 in 1 hour and 26 minutes. The double reigning Australian Open champion reached her third consecutive final in Melbourne with her 20th straight victory in the competition. Sabalenka will face the winner of the second semifinal this Saturday for the title, who will face the Polish Iga Swiatek this Thursday against the American Madison Keys.
The challenge was complicated, major, but Badosa did not enter the court exhausted by any means. Boosted by her fantastic victory in the quarterfinals against Coco Gauff, the Catalan jumped into the Rod Laver Arena ready to make things difficult for Sabalenka.
Moving it from side to side and with a lot of conviction, Badosa soon took a 2-0 lead in the first set. The Belarusian, always playing with risk, made mistakes and gave in to Badosa. But soon Sabalenka would take the center of the court, begin to deliver very deep winners and intensify his siege on Badosa, who could not maintain his following serves. He ran like there was no tomorrow waiting for the storm to subside but Sabalenka didn’t give him a break. At all points a cyclone was coming and from 2-0 it went to 2-4 for the Belarusian. It’s not that Badosa was doing badly, far from it, but the level of number 1 was supreme. To win the points, the Catalan had to push as hard as possible, she couldn’t allow herself any mistakes and she had problems with the percentage of first serves. Sabalenka no longer gave him a chance in the set, who closed it with a 6-4.
Badosa started very well but soon Sabalenka imposed her power
Doubts arose here. Could Badosa hold out much longer or would he hand over the spoon soon? The match was very demanding from a physical point of view as well and at times he ran out of air. The other question was whether Sabalenka would maintain the tone, not only of power with her punches but also of concentration. What happened was that Badosa, under pressure, surrendered her serve with two double faults and the initiative in the second set was always taken by Sabalenka, who went miles with a 4-1. The history of the match was already written and the big favorite took the victory.
You can’t blame Badosa much, who has reached a major semi-final for the first time, at 27 years old, and who will once again enter the top ten after a few seasons with many physical and mental problems.
Meanwhile, Sabalenka, who achieved her sixth straight victory against Badosa, who has not defeated her since 2021, is going from strength to strength for her third consecutive title in Australia.
#Badosa #succumbs #unapproachable #Sabalenka #Australia
