Melbourne, Jan 24 (UNI) Aryna Sabalenka will aim to become the first woman in 26 years to win three successive Australian Open titles when she meets Madison Keys in Saturday’s final.
Victory would make Sabalenka only the sixth woman to win the title three times in a row in the Open era, and the first since Martina Hingis in 1999.
World number one Sabalenka is the heavy favourite to secure a fourth Grand Slam title and goes into the final on a 20-match winning streak at Melbourne Park.
But she must be wary of an opponent who saved a match point before ousting world number two Iga Swiatek to reach the second major final of her career.
American 19th seed Keys came through a dramatic third-set tie-break to reach her first Australian Open final, eight years after she finished runner-up at the 2017 US Open, the BBC reported.
Sabalenka is guaranteed to keep her status as the leading women’s player after Swiatek’s semi-final loss.
The top seed, who ended Swiatek’s 11-month stay as world number one in October, has lost just one set in six matches on her way to becoming the first woman since Serena Williams in 2017 to reach a third straight Australian Open final.
She produced a ruthless display to defeat close friend Paula Badosa in the last four and give herself the chance to become the first woman to win three consecutive hard-court Slam titles this century.
“It’s crazy that I’m in a situation where I have a chance to put my name next to legends. I couldn’t dream about that. It’s going to mean a lot,” said Sabalenka.
“I just feel at home. Last year I thought ‘OK, I feel at home, I feel so good here, I feel all the support’. This year I feel it even more.
“It feels like coming home to my home Slam.”
The odds are stacked against Keys as she hopes to deny Sabalenka, who won the Australian and US Open finals in straight sets last year.
Sabalenka has won four of her five previous meetings with Keys, including victory in their two previous Slam encounters.
Their most recent meeting at a major, in the semi-finals of the US Open in 2023, was a particularly painful one for Keys.
The American served for the match with a 6-0 5-3 lead, only for Sabalenka to pull off a remarkable fightback to advance.
“I felt like I tried to play safe. I wasn’t playing how I wanted to in the big moments,” Keys said of that defeat.
“That felt so bad. I didn’t want to be in the same situation where I looked back and thought ‘I should have gone for it’.
“I didn’t want to have any regrets.”
The Australian Open women’s final begins at 08:30 GMT.
