Bopanna one match away from title , Sabalenka reaches ladies final again

 

Arnya Sabalenka reached the final of the Australian Open.  She lost to fourth seed Coco Gauff in the semifinals on Thursday.  Sabalenka won 7-6, 6-2.  Sabalenka became the first female tennis player since Serena Williams to reach two consecutive Australian Open finals.  She will play against China's Zheng Qinwen in the final . Zheng beat Diana Yasstremska in the other semi-final that day.

 Sabalenka won 13 consecutive matches with this at Melbourne Park.  The tennis world knows her well after reaching the finals of this competition last year.  Serena reached the Australian Open final three times in a row from 2015-17.

 Gauff has not lost a single match in any competition this year.  She came to play in the Australian Open after winning the trophy in Auckland.  In Grand Slam she won 12 consecutive matches.  She had the chance to become the first woman since Naomi Osaka to win back-to-back US Open and Australian Open titles.  She won the US Open by defeating Sabalenka in September last year.  But she could not do the same in the Australian Open.

 Gauff fought well in the first set .  Neither player could hold their serve.  Sabalenka led 5-2 at one point.  From there, Gauff won four straight games to make it 6-5.  After that, she could not hold his serve and win the set.  Sabalenka's extraordinary returns put her in trouble.  The entire stadium screamed for Gauff as Sabalenka led 5-1 in the tiebreaker, but to no avail.  Sabalenka did not let Gauff stand in the second set.

Meanwhile  Indian Rohan Bopanna is now just one win away from winning his first Grand Slam title, entering the final of Australian Open men's doubles with Australia's Matthew Ebden.  Second seeds Bopanna and Ebden defeated Thomas Machak and Zhang Xinzhen 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-7) in a tense semi-final on Thursday.  His experience in super tie breakers came in handy in the match that lasted for about two hours.  Zhang is ranked 54th and Machak is ranked 75th in the world rankings.  Both are very good players with being in the top 100 in the singles rankings and they gave a tough challenge to Bopanna and Ebden.

 Just a day earlier, Bopanna had ensured the top position in the world doubles ranking.  He demonstrated strong service and strokes in the match.  He has reached the US Open finals in 2013 and 2023, but could not win the Grand Slam title.  Now at the age of 43, he is one victory away from fulfilling his dream.  Bopanna and Ebden will now face Italy's Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori, who defeated Germany's Yannick Hanfmann and Dominic Kofer 6-3, 3-6, 7-6.

 After a tie in the first two sets, Bopanna and Ebden were trailing 0-30 in the first game of the third set, but Bopanna maintained his strong service.  Zhang and Machak's brilliant crosscourt winner was worth watching.  

 Bopanna's sporting spirit was once again seen when in the seventh game, after touching the net, he himself told that he had lost a point.  They trailed 15-30 after Bopanna missed a backhand shot and Zhang hit a forehand winner on the crosscourt, giving Bopanna two break points.  His backhand shot went out and the opposing team made a comeback.

 In the next game, Bopanna and Ebden got three match points which was saved.  However, the Chinese players made a comeback and at one point made the score 5-5.  After a closed match in the 11th game, Ebden held serve and took a 6-5 lead, after which he would have won the match with another break point, but due to the third set being tied, a super tiebreaker took place.  In the super tiebreaker, Ebden took the lead with a return winner and Bopanna made the score 7-5 with a brilliant volley winner on Zhang's return.  The Indo - Aussie pair finally won a gripping tie breaker to reach the final in style .