Fifth seed Elena Rybakina beat world number two Iga Swiatek on Wednesday to reach the Australian Open semi-finals, ending the Pole’s attempt to complete a career Grand Slam.The loss means Swiatek is still missing a title at Melbourne Park. She has won four French Open titles, along with the US Open and Wimbledon, but has not won the Australian Open.
Rybakina had reached the final in Melbourne in 2023 but had not gone beyond the quarter-finals since then. The 26-year-old has been in good form, winning 18 of her last 19 matches. Her only loss in that span came in the Brisbane quarter-finals earlier this month.“Really pleased with the win,” said the 26-year-old. “We know each other pretty well and I was just trying to stay aggressive. “I feel like in the first set for both of us, the first serve was not really working, so just trying to step in on the second serve, put pressure on each other.“I think in the second set I just started to play more freely and served better.”They had met 11 times previously, including five meetings last season, with Swiatek leading 6–5.The defeat denied Swiatek a career Grand Slam of all four majors.The match began with both players struggling on serve. Swiatek broke in the opening game, but Rybakina broke back straight away and later saved three more break points. As the set went on, Rybakina improved her serve and the players stayed close.At 5-6, Swiatek served to stay in the first set, but Rybakina broke to take it 7-5 on her second set point.Rybakina then took control of the match. She broke Swiatek to love at the start of the second set and moved ahead 3-0. Her serve became more consistent, and she added two aces to lead 4-1.Swiatek was unable to recover, and Rybakina closed out a 7-5, 6-1 win. It will be her fourth Grand Slam semi-final and her first since Wimbledon in 2024. She will play either Jessica Pegula or Amanda Anisimova for a place in Saturday’s final.
