Barbara Schett backs ‘incredible’ Aryna Sabalenka to win Australia Open – ‘Buckle up and embrace this level’

Sabalenka is now eight matches unbeaten in Grand Slam quarter-finals, and the 2023 champion was in cruise control against the ninth seed on Rod Laver Arena.

The Belarusian dispatched her Czech opponent in just 71 minutes, and she is still to drop a set at Melbourne Park.

Now, with the top seed and world No. 1 Iga Swiatek and third seed Elena Rybakina out of the women’s singles draw, Barbara Schett is confident that Sabalenka is the woman to beat going into the last four.

“Physically, she’s even better than last year,” Schett explained.

“The way she’s moving around; not only laterally but when she had to run to drop shots. She’s agile on the court; she’s quick. At the moment, she is the one to win the Australian Open. Coco Gauff, her next opponent, has to buckle up and embrace this level of tennis. Sabalenka is playing some outstanding tennis.”

A particular problem of Sabalenka’s in recent years had been her second serve and her ground-stroke consistency, but Schett is of the opinion that those concerns have been quickly quashed.

“It’s incredible, if you watch her courtside, the speed and power of her shots are unbelievable,” the Austrian, who has reached the fourth round in Melbourne four times, said.

“She brings up the intensity every single point. She plays it as if it were a match point. We know the serve; she had problems in the past with her double faults. That’s not a problem anymore.”

Tim Henman agreed in the Eurosport Cube and said: “Go back a couple of years, you were always watching Sabalenka thinking what’s going to go wrong?

“Is it the second serve, is she going to start making a lot of unforced errors from the back of the court? She looks so assured out there.

“She’s hitting so aggressively but with margin for error so the unforced error count is down. She’s playing great tennis. Right now she’s supremely confident about getting back in the final.”

Mats Wilander, a three-time Australian Open champion, was keen to compare Sabalenka’s style with the great Serena Williams, with the now-retired American winning 23 Grand Slam titles.

The Swede believes that Sabalenka has managed to add more variety into her shot selection, becoming a more complete player, and ultimately, more of a title threat at Grand Slams.

“She doesn’t [let her opponents get into the game] these days,” Wilander said.

“We talk about the power game, and we used to talk about the power game of Serena Williams. I always try to remind people that Serena played with power, but she c[ould] hold back.

“Sabalenka – we saw those rallies – can hit sliced backhands and drop shots, so she goes on court feeling safer because there is a plan B. Maybe not for a whole match, but at certain points in a rally or match, she can play defens[ively], and that’s something I’ve never seen until a couple of years ago.

“Now she’s confident in her ability. The problem is is that Coco Gauff is next and the nightmares start from the US Open final in my mind.”