Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka will clash with Chinese 12th seed Zheng Qinwen in the Australian Open final after both women powered to straight-sets victories in the last four on Thursday.

World number two Sabalenka kept her title defence on track by blasting past American fourth seed Coco Gauff 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 with the roof closed on Rod Laver Arena.

Zheng then stormed into a debut championship match with a stirring 6-4, 6-4 victory over gallant Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska.

In doing so, the 21-year-old became the first Chinese finalist in Melbourne since her idol Li Na won the title in 2014.  

Read full story on sport.timesofmalta.com

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.