Amid all of the top names falling in the Women's Draw at the 2024
Australian Open, two players remain who were the favourites for the title to begin with in
Aryna Sabalenka (the defending champion) and
Coco Gauff (the current US Open champion) who will contest their semi-final on Thursday morning.
As ever with our
preview, we look ahead to the match as well as giving a prediction on how the latest battle between Sabalenka and Gauff will precede and who will reach the Australian Open final to face either Qinwen Zheng or Dayana Yastremska which will take place on Saturday January 27.
Gauff flawless until Kostyuk blip
The first part of this semi-final is Coco Gauff who has started the year fairly flawlessly after her excellent run during the American hard court swing in particular at the back end of the year. A player who expects herself to win dozens of Grand Slam titles, she could add yet another one this weekend. But unlike her opponent, she has had a scare along the way.|
After seeing off Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, Caroline Dolehide, Alycia Parks and Magdalena Frech without barely dropping games no mind sets, Gauff looked to be in cruise control towards a meeting with Sabalenka after winning Auckland also earlier in January and so is in superb title winning form as it is. But then came Marta Kostyuk.
Despite winning it 7-6, 6-7, 6-2, Gauff came under heavy criticism with the American aiming to protect her forehand and Kostyuk targeting it time and time again. She didn't look herself at all and Kostyuk didn't take advantage. Quarters of the tennis fraternity harshly called her out and said she didn't do anything during the match against the Ukrainian as former World No.10 Arnaud Clement called her 'extremely poor'. But at the same time, it is often a champions mentality to have a blip like this en route with Novak Djokovic on the men's side famous for having a poor start and growing into it or having one player that tests him. If the same Gauff comes out against Sabalenka, it will be game over likely just after 10am CET.
Sublime Sabalenka banishes Brisbane disappointment with mindblowing run
After being demolished by Elena Rybakina in the final of the Brisbane International, Sabalenka would've been forgiven for making a slow start to the Australian Open. But instead as Rybakina floundered against Linda Noskova, it was the fuel to the fire that the former World No.1 needed to hunt down a second Australian Open crown. Winning the title twelve months ago, she is adept to the conditions in Melbourne and has been even more clinical than she was during that run.
She has barely dropped games no mind a set with only 16 games over the course of five games being left on the table by the imperious Belarusian who has left the tennis world purring at the way she has utterly dismantled opposition including players she has previously struggled against like Amanda Anisimova and former Grand Slam champions in Barbora Krejcikova. Also a slew of teenagers in Ella Seidel and Brenda Fruhvirtova as well as Lesia Tsurenko proved to be lambs to the slaughter for Sabalenka as she is sending out a statement that despite some disappointment in not accruing more majors since, she is still the top player in Australia. But there is some potential baggage there?
Do US Open scars remain for Sabalenka?
Head to Head wise, it is 4-2 to Gauff including the most high profile meeting between the pair at the US Open in the final where under the pressure after going 6-2 up, Sabalenka crumbled and amid the cauldron of Flushing Meadows succumbed to the might of the teenager in a match that haunted her in the 2023 season.
This after being a back and forth between the pair which saw Gauff win back-to-back in Rome in 2021 and Toronto in 2022, but in the Indian Wells Quarter-Finals in 2023, it was very much Sabalenka as she won 6-4, 6-0. Gauff is on a 12 match win streak in Grand Slams, while Sabalenka is on the same streak at the Australian Open alone. But do these scars remain and can Sabalenka find a way through them? Time will tell but gunning for revenge is likely to leave Sabalenka with a devastating win.
Prediction: Aryna Sabalenka in two sets
