The spirit of youth beat the veteran’s dignity. Last year’s Wimbledon women’s singles winner Elena Rivakina (25th, Kazakhstan) succeeded in advancing to the Australian Open final for the first time in her life.
Rivakina advanced to the final by defeating Victoria Azaranka (24th, Belarus) 2-0 (7-6 <7-4> 6-3) in the Australian Open women’s singles semifinal held in Melbourne, Australia on the 26th. Riva Kina, who won her first major title at Wimbledon last year by defeating Once Jaber (#2, Tunisia), also reached her first Australian Open final, her second major title of her own. challenged Prior to this event, Rivakina’s best Australian Open performance was her third round in 2020. Rivakina will face off against the winner of the match between Arina Sabalenka (5th, Belarus) and Magda Linnet (45th, Poland) for the championship.
On the other hand, Azaranka, who won her second straight Australian Open women’s singles title in 2012-2013, tried to advance to the Australian Open final for the first time in 10 years, but was blocked by Rivakina.
The confrontation between her 1999-born Rivakina and her 1989-born Azaranka drew attention as a showdown of spirit and dignity. After defeating Daniel Collins (11th, USA) in the 3rd round, Rivakina produced a surprise victory in the round of 16, defeating world number 1 Iga Siviontech (Poland), who was the strongest candidate for the championship. In the quarterfinals, she even beat Elena Ostapenko (17th, Latvia), the winner of the 2017 French Open. Azaranka also advanced to the semifinals by beating top ranked players such as Madison Keith (13th, USA) in the third round and Jessica Pegula (3rd, USA) in the quarterfinals.
The confrontation between the two was devastating from the first set, which took an hour. With each other exchanging breaks twice, it led to a tie-break. However, Rivakina, who had a strong serve, overpowered Azaranka in a last-minute power struggle, winning 7-4 and taking the first set.
Rivakina, who overcame the starting line after a hard fight, seized the victory again by breaking Azaranka’s serve game in the second set game score 1-1. Then, in 4-2, Rivakina, who brought Azaranka’s sub game again, hesitated by giving up her own sub game, but immediately finished the game by breaking Azaranka’s sub game. 먹튀검증