World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka is into the semifinals of the Brisbane International after defeating world No.7 Madison Keys, 6–3 6–3.
The match marked Sabalenka’s second meeting with Keys since her loss to the American in the Australian Open 2025 final, following a dominant 6–1 6–0 victory at Indian Wells. She extends her head-to-head record to 6–2 since they first met in 2018.
The victory also means Sabalenka has notched eight consecutive wins in Brisbane and 36 of her last 38 matches in Australia.
“This place is super special. I always play great here. I’m excited to be back in the semis, and I hope I can bring my best tennis each time I'm competing out here,” said Sabalenka, who has sat atop the WTA world rankings for 64 consecutive weeks.
While power was evenly matched between Keys and Sabalenka in the first set, precision made the difference. Keys surrendered seven points via double faults, caught between caution and commitment on second serves against the Belarusian’s relentless aggression.
In a second set defined by repeated service breaks, including five straight against Keys, the world No.1 composed herself at 4–2, before closing out the match with three thunderous serves of her own.
“She’s a great player. Always tough battles against her,” Sabalenka said.
“I was trying to stay focused, trying to stay on my serve and put as much pressure as I can on her serve. That’s all I was thinking about.
“I put so much pressure back on her. She’s aggressive, and I tried to put all of that speed back on her.”
A back-to-back Australian Open champion in 2023 and 2024, Sabalenka will look to take another step toward consecutive Brisbane titles — having also finished runner-up in 2024 — when she faces world No.20 Karolína Muchova on Saturday.
Despite Sabalenka’s overall dominance on the tour, Muchová holds a 3–1 head-to-head advantage, with the Czech claiming their most recent meeting in Beijing in 2024, 7–6(1) 2–6 6–5.
“I always approach each match the same, it doesn’t matter the score between us,” said Sabalenka.
“What’s in the past stays in the past. I will try to bring everything I’ve been working on throughout basically my whole career and try better every time.”
Muchova makes her mark
Czechia’s Muchova has overcome chronic injury setbacks to emerge victorious against No.3 seed Elena Rybakina in a thrilling upset at Pat Rafter Arena, jump starting her 2026 season by advancing to the Brisbane International semifinals.
Muchova required just over two hours to secure the 6-2 2-6 6-4 victory.
“It’s the first tournament of the season, so far it couldn’t have been better than this,” said 28-year-old Muchova, the No.11 seed in Brisbane. “It was a very tough match … [Rybakina] is a very good athlete, top-3 or top-5 player so I’m just glad I was able to serve it out.
“It was my first time on the centre court, [I’m] so happy with all the support, and it’s so nice here, thank you.”
Muchova’s varied style of play saw her dictating the rhythm and pace of the first set, keeping the height, width and depth of her shots unpredictable, forcing Rybakina to stay on her toes.
The second set saw Rybakina turn the match around, starting to find length in her heavy strokes and altering her linear playing style to meet Muchova’s more volatile style, leading Muchova to make 10 unforced errors.
The final set proved to be quite the arm wrestle, with the players meeting each other game for game. But with her third break point converted, Muchova slid ahead to 5-4 and secured victory on her first match point.
“I’m just happy again to be playing to be out here, I missed two years in Australia that I didn’t even come because of injuries,” said Muchova. “I’m just glad to be playing.”
Don’t miss out on the chance to be part of one of the most exciting tournaments of the year. Tickets for the Brisbane International are on sale via Ticketmaster. Prices start at $30. Premium Experiences are on sale via Ticketmaster and the Premium Experiences Team.