World number five Aryna Sabalenka stormed into Saturday’s Adelaide International final, crushing Romanian veteran Irina-Camelia Begu as she lost just five games.
Her reward is a title match against either Tunisia’s world number two Ons Jabeur or young Czech teenager Linda Noskova as she gains a step ahead of the Australian Open.
“I’m happy with the level I’m at now,” said the Belarusian, who is targeting her 11th career title and her first since winning in Abu Dhabi and Madrid in 2021, after winning 6-3, 6-2.
“They play in a different style so I’m very happy to be in that match.
“We did everything right in pre-season, I think that’s the key,” he added to explain his good early season form, where he has yet to drop a set.
Begu had beaten seventh seed Jelena Ostapenko and fourth seed Veronika Kudermetova to reach the last four, but were no match for Sabalenka’s serving power and ferocious returns.
Men’s top seed Novak Djokovic, who has a 21-1 record since September, will face Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev in the afternoon semifinals.
The world number five Serbian has an 8-4 head-to-head advantage, with 10 of his 12 matches coming on hard courts.
The winner will meet either the American Sebastian Korda or the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka in the final.