By CNN
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Coco Gauff’s pursuit of back-to-back grand slam titles came to an end on Thursday as she was defeated by Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals of the Australian Open.
Defending champion Sabalenka triumphed 7-6(7-2) 6-4 in Rod Laver Arena for her 13th consecutive win at Melbourne Park.
In a tight rematch of last year’s US Open final, during which the 19-year-old Gauff won her first major title, the world No. 2 took control of the contest with a break at 4-4 in the second set before serving out for the match.
Sabalenka will now face Zheng Qinwen in Saturday’s final after the Chinese 12th seed, who has never before featured in a grand slam final, defeated Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska 6-4 6-4.
For American Gauff, this was her first defeat of 2024 having held a 10-0 record going into the match.
“It was incredible match,” Sabalenka told reporters. “She’s a great player, always tough battles against her.
“I think the key was that I was able to stay focused no matter what, no matter what the score was, I just keep trying my best, keep fighting for it.
“Of course, I’m super happy to be in another final of a grand slam. Hopefully, I can do a little bit better than the last time.”
In a close first set between the two highest-ranked players left in the draw, Sabalenka looked to have the upper hand on several occasions, only for Gauff to remain in contention while under pressure from the Belarusian’s powerful groundstrokes.
Sabalenka was unable to serve out of the first set at 5-3 as she coughed up two unforced errors and a double fault, but Gauff also failed to capitalize on her advantage when serving for the set at 6-5.
In the resulting tie-break, Sabalenka started to find her range with a series of huge forehands and took the first set when Gauff’s return floated wide.
Another finely-balanced second set followed, although this time neither player could find the all-important break.
That was only until Sabalenka, on her fifth break point of the set, finally found the breakthrough when a Gauff backhand drifted wide, and from there, she wrapped up the victory in an hour and 42 minutes.
According to ESPN, this was the 25-year-old’s first win against a player ranked inside the top four at a major.
She ended the match with 33 winners and 76% accuracy on her first serve, becoming the first woman to reach back-to-back Australian Open finals since Serena Williams in 2017.
Gauff, who was playing in her first semifinal in Melbourne, said that her tournament was “positive” overall.
“I had chances in both sets, but she played better tonight. I felt like I did my best with the game plan that I had. I think it just came down to a couple of points, and that’s tennis,” she said after the match.
This story has been updated with additional information.
