Sabalenka, Zheng advance to Australian Open final

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MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan 25(AP): Aryna Sabalenka has taken her Australian Open title defense all the way back to the championship match because she has applied a crucial lesson from her U.S. Open final loss to Coco Gauff.
She kept reminding herself the next point is often more important than the one she’d just lost.
So when she had missed a set point and a chance to serve out the first set, and then gave Gauff an opportunity to serve for a one-set lead, she was prepared to “let it go” and just keep swinging.
The No. 2-seeded Sabalenka attacked Gauff’s serve with her powerful returns and unloaded 33 winners in total in a 7-6 (2), 6-4 semifinal victory Thursday night that earned her a spot in Saturday’s decider against first-time finalist Zheng Qinwen.

Sabalenka won her breakthrough major here last year, and reached the semifinals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon before losing the U.S. Open final to Gauff.
Now she’s the first to reach consecutive finals at Melbourne Park since Serena Williams in 2015, ’16 and ’17.
“The key was that I was able to stay focused no matter what, no matter what the score was … keep fighting for it,” Sabalenka said. “I’m super happy to be in another final of a Grand Slam. Hopefully I can do a little bit better than the last time.”

No. 12-seeded Zheng had a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 93-ranked Dayana Yastremska, ending the Ukrainian player’s bid to become just the second qualifier to reach a Grand Slam final in the Open era.
Zheng lost in the U.S. Open quarterfinals to Sabalenka last year in her best previous run at a major but said she’s more prepared this time.

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