
Aryna Sabalenka scored a dominant win over close friend Paula Badosa in the Australian Open semifinal. She came through 6-4, 6-4 despite falling behind an early break.
The win has put the top seed just a win away from completing a rare three-peat at the season’s opening Slam. She had beaten Elena Rybakina and Zheng Qinwen in the finals of the last two editions, respectively.
After the win, Sabalenka spoke about the challenges of playing a close friend in such a big match. She, however, was quick to reveal her plan to make up with Badosa.
“I hope she’s still my friend,” Aryna Sabalenka said. “Probably she, I mean, she hates me for the next, I don’t know, hour or a day too, I’m OK with that, I can handle that.”
“And after that I think we’re back to be friends, back to go out together, shopping. Paula we go shopping and I pay for whatever she you want,” she continued. “Maybe, you know, I hope she’s gonna be still here and we go, we go shop. I’m gonna put a limit for her, you know, because she can go crazy.”
With the win, Sabalenka has improved her head-to-head against Badosa to 6-2. The Spaniard had taken their opening two meetings in 2021 but the Belarusian has since taken six straight victories.