Elena Rybakina powers past Victoria Azarenka into Australian Open final

Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina has ended Victoria Azarenka’s inspired run to be the first woman through to the Australian Open final in Melbourne.

Continuing her relentless charge through the draw, Rybakina overpowered the two-time former champion 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 in Thursday night’s opening semi-final at Rod Laver Arena.

The Kazakh’s victory was her third straight over a grand slam champion after ousting world No.1 and reigning French and US Open titIeholder Iga Swiatek in the fourth round and 2017 Roland Garros winner Jelena Ostapenko in the quarter-finals.

Chasing her second major title in less than eight months, the 23-year-old will face either Belarusian world No.5 Aryna Sabalenka or unseeded Pole Magda Linette for the trophy on Saturday night.

“I’m super happy and proud,” Rybakina said.

“It’s an incredible atmosphere and I’m super happy to be in the finals and play one more time here.”

Azarenka was the last player to successfully defend the women’s crown at Melbourne Park, going back to back in 2012 and 2013, and bidding to join greats Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Kim Clijsters as only the fourth mother to win a grand slam singles crown.

But as valiant as she was, the 33-year-old couldn’t go the distance with an emerging superstar, a decade her junior.

Contesting her 11th Australian Open semi-final 11 years after her first, Azarenka’s fighting spirit was on full show in a rollercoaster first set.

She rallied from 5-3 down and set point in the eighth game to take the first set to a tiebreaker, only to lose it with a wild forehand error on Rybakina’s second set point.

The former world No.1 dropped serve to fall behind 3-1 in the second, then again in seventh game to trail 5-2.

Azarenka broke Rybakina the following game but the reprieve merely proved a stay of execution as the Russian-born world No.25 quickly regrouped to take the match after one hour, 41 minutes.

Rybakina has lost her only three meetings with Sabalenka, all in three sets, and beat Linette in their only clash two years ago.

Whoever she plays for the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, Rybakina is promising to play with more freedom than she did in last year’s nerve-wracking Wimbledon final.

“For sure I got a lot of experience from Wimbledon and, to be honest, I just want to come on court and really enjoy the moment, enjoy the atmosphere because it’s really amazing,” she said.

“We see how it’s going to go but for sure I try my best. I fight and, yeah, hopefully I’m going to win.”