Sabalenka and Rybakina advance towards Australian Open final clash

 Melbourne: Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina will face off in what promises to be the Australian Open final on Saturday after winning straight sets in their last four matches. Wimbledon champion Rybakina beat two-time Melbourne winner, Victoria Azarenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 at Melbourne's bustling Rod Laver Arena on Thursday.

Belarusian Sabalenka then entered the tournament with a 7-6 (7/1), 6-2 win over unseeded Magda Linnet. The 24-year-old Sabalenka will play her first Grand Slam final. The fifth seed struggled with his nerves in big matches previously and worked with a sports psychologist, but said after the pole was sent off that both were a thing of the past. "I realized no one would help me (except me),  you know?" she told reporters. "In preseason, I spoke to my psychologist, saying, 'I feel like I have to deal with that on my own because every time I hope someone fixes my problem, it doesn't solve my problem.'" That's a responsibility and I just have to deal with that."

Whatever she does, it works: Sabalenka has been in her life form since arriving in Australia. She won the Adelaide International Warm-up Tournament and now continued her unbeaten streak to 10 matches, not losing a single set in any of them. However, Lynet, 30, was competing in her first major semi-final, which came out the gate as quickly as she could, breaking love in the opening game and holding on to an early lead. Sabalenka was forced to work hard and showed all her new patience to return to relations with a break of her own, for love, 2-2 and the set went to the tiebreak. Sabalenka perfectly timed her moment to increase aggression, the level of decibels, racing to 4-0 with screams.

The ace that barely cut the line stretched to 5-0 and closed comfortably after 51 minutes, having beaten 20 winners to just seven from Lynet. Sabalenka admitted: "I would say that I didn't start really well." "And then in the tiebreaker, I kind of found my rhythm and started to believe in myself, and I started shooting the ball. It was a great forget from me in the tiebreaker." Sabalenka showed no sign of stopping in the second set, breaking Lynette and shouting "Come on!" contract for a 3-1 advantage. A second break took her within sight of the finish line, which she raced across in an hour and 33 minutes. Wimbledon champion Rybakina, 23, said she hopes to make her feel proud for her family after another exciting show. The Moscow-born Kazakh won in an hour and 41 minutes against 2012 and 2013 champion Azarenka of Belarus to claim the third major winner in more than one match. 22nd seed Rybakina had already defeated defending champion French and American Open champion Ega Swiatek in the fourth round and 2017 Roland Garros winner Jelena Ostapenko in the quarterfinals.

Rybakina said her semi-final win was even more special as she was watching her sister and parents all in Melbourne Park for the first time. Rybakina, whose parents were not there to watch her Wimbledon win last year, said: "I'm so happy that we can spend the evenings together and they can watch me live. "That's definitely great for them. I haven't spoken to them yet. I'm sure they're happy. They don't see me often playing live, so I think this time, it's a really big result. "No matter how I play in the final, I think they are very proud and happy." Azarenka, 33, was left to regret missed opportunities as her dream of being crowned for a third time at the Australian Open faded.