SYDNEY, January 29. /TASS/. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus advanced to the final of this year’s first Grand Slam series tournament, the 2026 Australian Open on Thursday, defeating Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.

The top-seeded Sabalenka, who is playing at the tournament under a neutral status, breezed past the 12th-seeded Svitolina in straight sets 6-2; 6-3.

In the championship match of this year’s first Grand Slam tournament, Sabalenka will take on Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina (5th seed), who also needed just two sets to win her semifinal match versus 6th-seeded Jessica Pegula of the United States 6-3; 7-6.

"Right now, my mentality is like I'm ready to do whatever - [whoever] is going to be in that finals - I'm ready to go out there and fight with what I have and do everything I can," the WTA official website quoted Sabalenka as saying.

"I think when I have this mentality, I play my best tennis, and I'm there, I'm fighting, I have my opportunities. So that's my approach to the finals this season," Sabalenka continued.

Speaking further about her showdown with Rybakina in the final of the 2026 Australian Open this weekend, Sabalenka added: "I think her shots are heavy, deep, flat balls. It's not easy to work with, but yeah, we have a great history."

"She's incredible player. We had a lot of great battles, a lot of finals we played. I'm looking forward to battle this power," Sabalenka, who is in top of her H2H stats at 8-6, added.

Belarusian Sabalenka, 27, the WTA's top-ranked player, holds 22 WTA (the Women’s Tennis Association) titles and four Grand Slam titles (2023, 2024 Australian Open, 2024, 2025 US Open).

The 2026 Australian Open tournament is being played on hard courts at Melbourne Park between January 18 and February 1 and has a purse of some $75 million in prize money up for grabs. The season’s first Grand Slam, this year marks the 114th edition of the tournament. Italy’s Jannik Sinner and American Madison Keys are the reigning Australian Open champions in men’s and women’s singles, respectively.

Russian and Belarusian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.

Following the IOC's recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations moved to exclude athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022, to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations while also canceling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.

On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from participating in the 2022 Davis Cup and the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.