Aryna Sabalenka defeated Australian Open champion Madison Keys in a repeat of last year’s Australian Open final, as the world number one continued her preparations for the first slam of the year by reaching the semi-finals at the Brisbane International.
Belarusian Sabalenka will seek to win a third Australian Open title in four years later this month, having triumphed back-to-back in 2023 and 2024 before losing to Keys in three sets in last year’s showpiece.
The 27-year-old, a four-time major winner, maintained her strong start to the year with a third consecutive straight-sets win, conceding just 13 games across the six sets she has played.
“I know that I lost in Australia against her, and that’s the big motivation of course to go out and to get the win,” said defending champion Sabalenka, who beat Keys at Indian Wells last March.
“But I never stay in the past and never remember things from the previous meeting. My approach is like it’s a new match, doesn’t matter what happened in the past, I have to go out there and play my best tennis.”
Defeating American Keys 6-3 6-3, Sabalenka will meet Karolina Muchova for a place in the Brisbane final after the Czech player upset world number five Elena Rybakina 6-2 2-6 6-4.
Muchova, ranked 20th, held her nerve in a tight deciding set to end former Wimbledon champion Rybakina’s 13-match winning streak.
A French Open runner-up in 2023, Muchova has won her last three matches against Sabalenka.
Great Britain’s Sonay Kartal served for the match but eventually lost to world number 13 Elina Svitolina in a final-set tie-break in their quarter-final match at the ASB Classic.
The 68th-ranked 24-year-old responded after losing the opening set to force a decider, which she had the chance to serve out at 5-3, but fell to a 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-5) defeat.
Kartal was aiming to reach the second tour-level semi-final of her career, but it is two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist Svitolina who will continue her pursuit of a 19th career WTA title as the top seed in Auckland.
Fellow Briton Fran Jones retired from her quarter-final with injury against China’s Wang Xiyu when trailing 6-4 4-3.
