Sabalenka powers past Linette into Australian Open showdown with Rybakina

Fifth seed Aryna Sabalenka advanced to her first final at a Grand Slam tournament on Thursday following a straight sets victory over the unseeded Pole Magda Linette.

Sabalenka won 7-6, 6-2 in 93 minutes and will play Elena Rybakina who beat Sabalenka's fellow Belarusian Victoria Azarenka to give herself the chance of adding the Australian Open crown to her trophy cabinet containing the Wimbledon title from last summer.

"I would say that I didn't start really well and in the tie-break I finally found my rhythm and start trusting myself," said Sabalenka who had lost her three previous visits to the semi-finals.

"I started going for the shots," added the 24-year-old.

Linette, playing in her first major semi-final, claimed Sabalenka's opening service game for a 2-0 lead in the first set.

But she was reeled in and it was level pegging until she was overwhelmed in the tiebreak. Sabalenka won it seven points to one.

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And the one-way traffic continued in the second set.

Sabalenka notched up five consecutive games to lead 5-1. And though she fluffed three match points as Linette eventually cut the deficit, she made no mistakes during her own service game to take the set 6-2 and the match.

"Elena is an amazing player," said Sabalenka of her opponent on Saturday.

"She's playing great tennis, super aggressive, she's already got one Grand Slam so she's kind of had this experience playing the final and it's going to be a great battle, I'm really looking forward to this final."

On Friday, in the men's semi-finals, third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas will take on the 18th seed Karen Khachanov from Russia and the nine-time champion Novak Djokovic faces the unseeded American Tommy Paul.