Victoria Azarenka continues her quest for a third Australian Open title a decade after her last championship at Melbourne Park when she plays Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in one of two night women’s semifinals.
Unseeded Magda Linette plays No. 5-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in
the other. The now 33-year-old Azarenka won the 2012 and 2013 titles in
Australia but she has not been back to the final four since.
Azarenka has beaten three Americans — 2020 Australian
champion Sofia Kenin, Madison Keys and No. 3-seeded Jessica Pegula — en route
to her first semifinal appearance in a Grand Slam tournament since the 2020
U.S. Open. Rybakina’s wins this year include last year’s finalist Danielle
Collins and No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek.
Rybakina beat Azarenka in straight sets in the third round
of last year’s Indian Wells tournament in their only previous meeting.
Sabalenka has beaten Linette in both previous matches they’ve played, including
the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
WEDNESDAY’S KEY RESULTS
Women’s Quarterfinals: No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka beat Donna
Vekic 6-3, 6-2; Magda Linette beat No. 30 Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 7-5.
Men’s Quarterfinals: Tommy Paul beat Ben Shelton 7-6 (6),
6-3, 5-7, 6-4; No. 4 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 5 Andrey Rublev.
THURSDAY’S FORECAST
Partly cloudy with a high of 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21
degrees Celsius).
STAT OF THE DAY
29: number of previous Grand Slam tournaments Linette had
played without advancing past the third round in singles.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“All through my life I’ve been taking mistakes and losses
very personally, so I had to disconnect those two things. It was really
difficult, because I felt a lot of times that the misses, the mistakes, were
defining me.” Linette on her continuing ”emotional management“ to deal with her
life issues on and off the court. -AP
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