Elena Rybakina and Victoria Azarenka advanced to the semifinal of Australian Open after showing a great display of tennis in one-sided quarterfinal matches won by both players in straight sets.
Rybakina was facing Jelena Ostapenko in the match-up of hard-hitting players, where the Kazakh was a favorite according to pre-match odds. Rybakina, who managed to eliminate Iga Swiatek and Danielle Collins in her road to QF stage, proved her stunning service form, scoring as much as 11 aces throught the match. She was also better in the fire exchange with Ostapenko who is considered as one of the biggest hitters in the field, achieving 24-21 winners/unforced errors ratio, while Ostapenko was a bit more negative in this stat with 19 winners to 22 UFEs. Rybakina was not so consistent in all her service games as in previous matches, as she faced some trouble, especially in second set when Ostapenko gained moved into the lead after quick break in second game. Reigning Wimbledon champ showed some good resistance today, defending 7 out of 8 breakpoints on her serve. Being the better player in decisive moments gave her quite an advantage today, allowing to arrive into AO semifinal with a style, 6:2 6:4 in just 81 minutes.
Victoria Azarenka reminded her great Australian Open successes from the past, making an upset on Jessica Pegula, defeating the world number 3 in easy two sets 6-4 6-1. Pegula was considered as one of the strongest title contenders after showing a great performance in United Cup and presenting flawless tennis against lower ranked opponent in first week of AO. She was also a clear favorite of this match, being rated with 1.33 average odd.
Azarenka started the match pretty well with a quick break and 3-0 lead, putting an instant pressure on Pegula, producing 9 breakpoints until the score 5-3. Then, the Belarusian did not manage to close the set besides being 40-15 up on serve. It not discouraged double AO champion though, as she broke Pegula once again to grab a set win 6-4, and followed the blow, winning all Pegula's service games in second set, producing a dominant victory in general. It's a big success for Azarenka and huge dissapointment for Pegula, who has once again not capitalized her good chances of making the significant result in Grand Slam despite being one of the highest rated players in terms of chances for winning the title.
The semifinal clash between Elena Rybakina and Victoria Azarenka will take place on Thursday. Tomorrow, the second SF pairing will be emerged by the matches Karolina Pliskova vs Magda Linette and Aryna Sabalenka vs Donna Vekic.
