No service with a smile!

Top seed Aryna Sabalenka swept past Victoria Azarenka on Saturday into a Brisbane International final against World No 4 Elena Rybakina setting up a replay of their 2023 Australian Open deciderSabalenka saw off her fellow Belarusian 62 64 while 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina cruised past Czech teenager Linda Noskova 63 62Sabalenka leads their headtohead 52 including a threeset win in the Australian Open final last year that earned her a maiden Grand Slam titleBut their clashes are usually tight with five of the seven meetings going to three sets ldquoI think we both serve really wellrdquo Sabalenka said of RybakinaldquoWe both play really super aggressive tennis I think thatrsquos why all the matches are pretty tight We both put each other under so much pressurerdquoAces galoreRussianborn Kazakh Rybakina put on a serving masterclass against Noskova blasting eight aces breaking her opponent once in the first set and twice in the second She has only lost 12 games on the way to the final and is yet to drop serve in a perfect build up to this yearrsquos Australian Open ldquoI didnrsquot expect I would play that well this weekrdquo said the second seed adding that she had been sick before arriving in BrisbaneldquoItrsquos an amazing start to the year for merdquo World No 2 Sabalenka has also had an impressive tournament not dropping a set She broke Azarenka twice in racing through the first set in just 35 minutes But twotime Australian Open champion Azarenka was better in the second and matched her younger rival until serving at 45 when she appeared to jar her knee She lost power in her serve and Sabalenka broke to take the match in 1hr 29minAzarenka later denied there was a problem with her knee saying she instead had an issue with her side throughout the match ldquoFrom the beginning of the match I wasnrsquot able to do what I wanted with my servesrdquo she said ldquoI definitely need a little rest and then Irsquoll be getting ready for the Australian OpenrdquoAlso Read Aryna Sabalenka vs Elena Rybakina clash promises to be powerpackedRune plays DimitrovIn the menrsquos draw top seed Holger Rune will play Grigor Dimitrov who beat Jordan Thompson 63 75 after the Dane beat Russiarsquos Roman Safiullin in the first semifinalRune the world number eight was able to absorb the bighitting of Safiullin who hit 27 clean winners but also made 28 unforced errors After Rune broke Safiullinrsquos opening service game and won the first set the Russian had the better of the second set but collapsed in the tiebreak ldquoItrsquos been a great week so farrdquo Rune said ldquoPlaying some good matches against some great players Irsquom excited for tomorrow and then MelbournerdquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever