No.5 seed Aryna Sabalenka booked her place in her first Grand Slam final with a 7-6(1), 6-2 win over Magda Linette at the Australian Open semifinals, here on Thursday. Sabalenka, who claimed her 11th career title at the Adelaide International 1 three weeks ago, has now won 10 matches in a row, including a career-best 20 consecutive sets. The longest match winning streak of her career to date is 15, encompassing three titles at Ostrava 2020, Linz 2020 and Abu Dhabi 2021.

The 24-year-old had lost all three of her previous Grand Slam semifinals: to Karolina Pliskova at Wimbledon 2021, Leylah Fernandez at the US Open 2021 and Iga Swiatek at the US Open 2022. She becomes the fifth player in the Open Era to reach a major final following three or more semifinal losses, joining Gabriela Sabatini, Zina Garrison, Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati.