Aryna Sabalenka, right, of Belarus is congratulated by Paula Badosa of Spain following during their semifinal match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)2025-01-23T10:18:47Z MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) Aryna Sabalenka moved one win away from becoming the first woman since 1999 to win three consecutive Australian Open titles, recovering from a slow start to beat good friend Paula Badosa 6-4, 6-2 Thursday night and return to the final.I have goosebumps. Im so proud of myself. Im proud of my team that we were able to put ourselves in such a situation, said the No. 1-seeded Sabalenka, who will face No. 2 Iga Swiatek or No. 19 Madison Keys for the championship. If Ill be able to put myself in the history (books), its going to mean a lot. Its going to mean the world to me.Just 10 minutes into her semifinal, Sabalenka was down a break and trailed 2-0, 40-love. She was making unforced errors, shaking her head or gesturing toward her entourage in the stands after many. But the 26-year-old from Belarus quickly figured things out, especially once Rod Laver Arenas retractable roof was shut late in the first set because of a drizzle. She straightened her strokes, frequently using huge returns and groundstrokes to overpower the 11th-seeded Badosa, who had eliminated No. 3 Coco Gauff on Tuesday to reach her first major semifinal. Sabalenka grabbed four games in a row and five of six to lead 5-3 and soon was ending that set with a 114 mph (184 kph) ace. She broke to lead 2-1 in the second set helped by two double-faults by Badosa and again to go up 4-1. The key statistic: Sabalenka finished with a 32-11 advantage in winners. Thats the sort of excellence that helped Sabalenka win her first major trophy at Melbourne Park in 2023, and she since has added two more in Australia a year ago and at the U.S. Open last September. The last woman to reach three finals in a row at the years first Grand Slam tournament was Serena Williams, who won two from 2015-17. Martina Hingis was the most recent woman with a threepeat, doing it from 1997-1999. Thursday nights second match featured Swiatek against Keys. Swiatek is a five-time major champion who entered the semifinals having dropped a total of just 14 games through five matches as she bids to reach the final at Melbourne Park for the first time. Keys went in on a 10-match winning streak, including taking the title at a tuneup event in Adelaide, and was hoping to reach her second Grand Slam title match after finishing as the runner-up at the 2017 U.S. Open.The mens semifinals are Friday: Novak Djokovic vs. Alexander Zverev, followed by defending champion Jannik Sinner vs. Ben Shelton.The womens final is Saturday; the mens is Sunday.Sabalenka and Badosa did their best to avoid any eye contact for much of the evening, whether up at the net for the coin toss or when they crossed paths at changeovers.One exception came early in the second set, when Badosa tumbled to the court and flung her racket away to avoid injury. Badosa immediately put up a thumb to make clear she was fine. When a replay was shown on stadium video screens, Sabalenka pantomimed to indicate Badosa took a dive, and they both smiled. When the match was over, they met at the net for a lengthy hug.During Sabalenkas on-court interview, she joked about maybe taking Badosa who by then was sitting in a hallway, her head bowed on a shopping spree to make things up to her, paying for whatever the Spaniard wants.After a couple of battles against each other, we spoke and decided to put it aside, said Sabalenka, who leads their head-to-head series 6-2. She wanted it badly. We both wanted it badly. No matter what happens on the court, were going to be friends after our matches.Then Sabalenka paused, before joking: I hope shes still my friend. Im sure shell hate me for the next hour or day. Im OK with that.___Howard Fendrich has been the APs tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis HOWARD FENDRICH Fendrich is an Associated Press national writer based in Washington, D.C. He reports on tennis and other sports. twitter mailto