A little grunting might be the only thing that could slow down Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open.
The women’s No. 1 seed received a hindrance penalty early in her semifinal match against Elina Svitolina on Wednesday night in Melbourne.
The chair umpire stopped play on the first point of the fourth game after Sabalenka grunted after hitting a forehand. It was distracting enough that the umpire felt the point should be awarded to Svitolina.
“You go ah, ah-ya. You don’t make the normal sound,” the umpire said to Sabalenka, who asked for a video review.
Sabalenka said that she was infuriated by the ruling and used it as motivation, which certainly showed as she broke Svitolina’s serve in the game and never looked back on her way to a 6-2, 6-3 victory.
“That’s actually never happened to me, like never happened to me,” Sabalenka told reporters afterward. “Especially with my grunting I had…. it’s so off, I think. The way I excel, I don’t know how to explain it. The ball was deep, the bounce was wrong, like the timing and I was exhaling. It just happened naturally, and she called it, and I was like, ‘What? What is wrong with you?’ I think it was wrong call, but whatever.”
Sabalenka hit 19 winners and broke Svitolina’s serve twice in the first set. She finished with 29 winners to 12 for her Ukrainian rival.
“She really — how do I say it in a nice way — she really pissed me off and it actually helped me, it really helped my game,” Sabalenka said. “I was more aggressive, I was not happy with the call and it really helped me with that game. So, if she ever wants to do it again, I’ll make sure she’s not afraid of it, go ahead, it’ll help me.”
Sabalenka is the third woman in the Open era to reach four consecutive singles finals at the Australian Open after Evonne Goolagong and Martina Hingis.
The Belarusian will face fifth-seeded Elena Rybakina in the finals on Saturday. Rybakina dispatched the last American in the field in the other semifinal, defeating Jessica Pegula, 6-3, 7-6.
The two faced off in the 2023 Australian Open final with Sabalenka winning in three sets.
“It was a great battle (against Sabalenka in 2023),” Rybakina said. “In the end, she played a bit better and it was well deserved. I want to enjoy the final and hopefully I can serve better than today. I am so excited.”
— With AP
