Sabalenka into 4th straight Australian Open final, will face Rybakina for the title

Not even a point penalty for hindrance slowed Aryna Sabalenka's run to a fourth consecutive Australian Open final.

The top-ranked Sabalenka overpowered Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-3 Thursday night to move within one victory of a third Australian Open title in four years.

A rematch of the 2023 final against Elena Rybakina was set up after the No. 5 seed ousted No. 6 Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-6 (7) in the second semifinal that was mostly one way until Rybakina had match point.

She missed three match points on Pegula's serve then was broken twice while serving for the match. In the tiebreaker, Pegula had two set points but wasn't able to convert and Rybakina finally clinched 29 minutes after her first match point.

"It was an epic second set," Rybakina said. "I'm really glad I managed to win it. Jessica fought to the end. I'm just super happy to be in the final."

All four players reached the semifinals without dropping a set - in Australia for the first time in 56 years - and Sabalenka and Svitolina were each on 10-match winning streaks to start the season after titles in warmup events.

Sabalenka kept both of her streaks alive. She hit 19 winners and broke Svitolina's serve twice in the first set. She finished with 29 winners to 12 for her Ukrainian rival.

As has become customary for Ukrainians against players from Russia and Belarus, there was no handshakes at the net. There was also no group photo before the match.

Sabalenka is the third woman in the Open era to reach four consecutive singles finals at the Australian Open after Evonne Goolagong and Martina Hingis.

"It's an incredible achievement but the job's not done yet," an emotional Sabalenka said in her on-court TV interview. "I've been watching her game, [Svitolina] was