Aryna Sabalenka exacts revenge on Coco Gauff to reach Australian Open final

The world No.2 will start as the raging favourite to win back-to-back titles after a straight sets win over Coco Gauff.

Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka in through to Saturday night’s Australian Open final. Picture: AFP

Dressed from head to toe in red, the most dominant of colours, Belarus’s Aryna Sabalenka exacted a speck of revenge and reached the Australian Open final by beating superstar American teenager Coco Gauff inside Rod Laver Arena on Thursday night.

Sabalenka was annihilating Gauff in last year’s US Open final in New York City before slipping in the closing two sets for a galling three-set defeat. There’s no such thing as real revenge for losing the championship match at a major – nothing can get you a retrospective trophy – but the 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 triumph will still be extremely satisfying for the world No.2. She’ll start a raging favourite in the final against Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska or China’s Qinwen Zheng on Saturday evening.

Sabalenka hasn’t lost a set all tournament. “I was ready for anything tonight,” she said in her on-court interview. “And thank you to the crowd for the support. Last time I played here I hardly had any support. I really appreciate it. Coco is a great player and I hope in the future we’re going to play many finals.”

Gauff was cruelled by poor serving. She coughed up five double faults in her first three service games alone. Sabalenka’s attire was a throwback to Tiger Woods’ preferred colour for the last day of golfing majors. The charismatic American believed his red shirt exuded confidence and authority – two qualities bursting from Sabalenka as she powered home in one hour and minutes.

Gauff had the majority of the crowd support inside a packed RLA. Sabalenka’s loud grunting and groaning with every shot doesn’t always go down well with patrons. The masses were pro-Coco from early in proceedings but she didn’t quite hit her straps. She was disappointed to have produced only her “C-game” in the quarter-finals and this wasn’t a whole lot better apart from a mini-revival in the first set.

Sabalenka swung between controlled aggression and no control whatsoever. Some of her winners were thunderously good. Some of her misses were wild slogs. One of her full-blooded backhands was so powerful it knocked Gauff off her feet. Sabalenka was in dire trouble when Gauff led the first set 6-5, 30-0 but she found a way to run riot for the remainder of the set. And match.

The second set was even-steven until Sabalenka broke for 5-4. She had too much firepower all night. The match was always at her mercy and on her racquet. Gauff hung in there but was constantly forced to play off the back foot. It developed into a high-quality, riveting encounter. Sabalenka secured the crucial break when Gauff hooked a backhand wide. Sabalenka served a nervous double fault in the final game but she steadied in the nick of time and that was all she wrote.