Elena Rybakina is into her second Australian Open final after defeating Jessica Pegula 6-4 7-6(7).
After an impressive set and a half, Rybakina stumbled over the finishing line to reach her second Australian Open final.
As for Pegula, the American can be proud of her comeback but ultimately didn’t do enough to take the match out of Rybakina’s hands.
Now, Rybakina will face the same player she played in her first Australian Open final in the form of Aryna Sabalenka.
It was a blistering start from Rybakina as she came out of the blocks well to secure an early 3-0 lead.
There was some passive play from Pegula early on as too many mistakes saw her fail to make her mark on the opening set.
Eventually the American found some confidence on serve and prevented the deficit from getting worse as Pegula remained in touching distance of the Kazakh.
The former Wimbledon champion had break points for the double break but ultimately was happy to seal the opening set with a break lead as she was in control of this semi-final.
There was more of the same from Rybakina in the second set as she fired down the first serves and was dominant on return.
A look of frustration and negativity came from Pegula as she conceded the break in the third game before some aggressive returns saw the American break straight back.
However, Rybakina continued to look flawless on the return of serve and secured the break advantage again to be in control of the contest.
There was some impressive serving from Pegula but the match looked to be running away from her with Rybakina having three match points on the American’s serve.
Some clutch serving saw Pegula save the match points and was right back in the contest as Rybakina tensed up on two separate occasions.
A late surge in form and confidence saw Pegula take the match to Rybakina who was now missing first serves.
The second set would go to a tiebreak as Rybakina couldn’t believe how tight she was in what was a rollercoaster tiebreak.
Two set points would come and go from Pegula as she was too passive on serve allowing Rybakina to loosen up.
27 minutes after her previous match point, Rybakina produced a return winner to seal her place in the Australian Open final.
After the match Rybakina admitted it meant a lot to her to be in Saturday’s final, “It means a lot to me. It was such a battle, an epic second set. I’m really glad I managed to win. Jessica fought super well in the second set,” Rybakina said in her on-court interview by the BBC Sport website.
“It was really stressful for my team and me also. I’ve had an epic tie-break here before and I lost it. A little flashback came, but I’m glad it turned my way in the end. I am pretty proud that no matter what the situation was, I still stayed [competing] and was fighting for every point. The match started pretty well compared to previous matches, so overall a lot of positives to take.
“Thank you for coming. I hope to see you on Saturday.”
