{"id":362538,"date":"2024-01-25T01:22:30","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T02:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=362538"},"modified":"2024-01-25T06:02:32","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T06:02:32","slug":"revenge-backdrop-to-stars-absolute-domination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=362538","title":{"rendered":"'Revenge' backdrop to star's 'absolute domination'"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> has made no secret \ufeffof her desire for "revenge" against Coco Gauff<\/a> after letting the US Open final slip away from her last year<\/a> and Sam Stosur says an "absolutely dominant" tournament so far points to victory for the Belarusian in Thursday night's blockbuster semi-final.<\/p>\n

Worthy of a final, the match up between teen sensation Gauff and powerhouse Sabalenka is the talk of the tennis world, with the backdrop of last year's US Open final adding to the narrative.<\/p>\n

In that decider, Sabalenka looked to be sailing to a second major title for the year after a scorching start that put her in touching distance of the trophy.<\/p>\n

LIVE: <\/strong>Australian Open 2024 day 12<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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But her level dropped and Gauff's lifted, swinging the match to the American who carried the momentum to her first grand slam victory, winning the match 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.<\/p>\n

\"Coco<\/p>\n

That was just over four months ago, but in that time world No.2 Sabalenka has taken her game to another level, with top pundit Sam Smith saying that she'd had the most productive off-season of any player in the top 10.<\/p>\n

"I think she's improved more than anybody in the world's top 10 over the pre-season and into this Australian Open<\/a>," Smith told Nine on Thursday. <\/p>\n

"She stands out, I think she's so complete, I don't really see any weaknesses in her game, I see all the work she's been doing over the last few years to have more variety in her game, I think it's all coming together and I think she's going to be phenomenal."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 Australian Open live and exclusive on Nine,<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and ad-free on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"'Phenomenon'<\/p>\n

According to Smith, Sabalenka's hunger to go to another level stemmed in part from several disappointments at major championships in 2023.<\/p>\n

After winning the first slam of her career in Melbourne last year, she lost an extremely tight semi-final at Roland-Garros, going down to Karol\u00edna Muchov\u00e1 7-5 in the third.<\/p>\n

Then at Wimbledon she won the first set of her semi-final against Ons Jabeur before letting the match slip\ufeff.<\/p>\n

Gauff's comeback victory at the US Open was a third straight disappointment, fuelling a pre-season that has led to one of the most dominant major tournaments in recent memory.<\/p>\n

\"Coco<\/p>\n

\ufeff"This is the best tennis I've ever seen her play day in\ufeff, day out consistently," Stosur told Wide World of Sports' The Morning Serve<\/em><\/a>. <\/p>\n

"Obviously winning a slam and doing what she did last year, consistently making through to semi final or final stages, she's playing very well but this has just been absolute domination so far in every single round."<\/p>\n

Drilling down into what part of Sabalenka's game has improved the most, Casey Dellacqua told The Morning Serve the Belarusian had moved past a difficult time in her career when she had the yips on serve.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"I just want to add about the serve, it's been something that has gone off over the last 12 months, where she's served games of double faults," Dellacqua said. <\/p>\n

"It's probably been a big shift in regards to we say she's playing well\ufeff, I think a lot of it has to do with the improvements she's had in the serve. It's kind of having this really nice flow-on effect with the rest of her game."<\/p>\n

\"Coco<\/p>\n

While Sabalenka's game has gone to another level this year, Gauff hasn't been at her best despite some fairly one-sided scorelines. She dropped a set in her quarter-final against Marta Kostyuk and didn't seize control as she was expected to until the deciding set.<\/p>\n

She gave herself a "C" for that performance and, according to Alicia Molik, will need at least a B+ to trouble Sabalenka.<\/p>\n

However, such is her self-confidence after breaking through for her first grand slam victory last year, that no one's brave enough to write her off.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"Even at the US Open when she won she had some really sticky moments early on in the tournament, \ufeffshe came back from sets down but found a way to win and by the end of the event she was playing unreal tennis and got to hold the trophy for her first grand slam," Stosur said. <\/p>\n

"So even though the other day wasn't necessarily her best, I don't think it necessarily means that the next one won't be. I think she's very experienced even though she's very young and she'll be able to step up when it matters most."<\/p>\n

The revenge element in a clash between two recent major winners points to a must watch blockbuster when Sabalenka and Gauff stride out to Rod Laver Arena for their semi-final clash at 7.30pm on Thursday. \ufeff<\/p>\n

According to both Stosur and Dellacqua the player who ultimately will lift the trophy will likely emerge from that match.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka has made no secret \ufeffof her desire for "revenge" against Coco Gauff after letting the US Open final slip away from […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":362540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362538"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=362538"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":362545,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362538\/revisions\/362545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/362540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=362538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=362538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=362538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}