2026 Australian Open: Rybakina and Pegula meet in the semifinals, aiming for the Daphne Akhurst Trophy

On January 28th Beijing time, a key quarterfinal match of the 2026 Australian Open took place at Rod Laver Arena. The tournament's 5th seed Rybakina faced the 2nd seed Swiatek for a spot in the semifinals. Ultimately, Rybakina defeated her opponent 7-5, 6-1, returning to the Australian Open women's singles semifinals for the first time in three years.

Rybakina

Before this, Rybakina held a slight disadvantage in her head-to-head record against Swiatek (5-6). However, their most recent encounter at the Riyadh year-end finals saw Rybakina come back from a set down to win 3-6, 6-1, 6-0, achieving a five-match winning streak to claim the year-end championship.

Rybakina has been in excellent form at this tournament, reaching the quarterfinals without dropping a set, and she maintained that dominant performance in this match. Swiatek broke first in the opening set, but Rybakina quickly broke back and secured another crucial break late in the set to take it 7-5.

Rybakina

In the second set, Rybakina broke serve multiple times and held her own to build a 3-0 lead, then did not allow her opponent any further chances, closing the set 6-1 to win the match. Rybakina outperformed in all key stats, hitting 11 aces, achieving a 79% first serve win rate, and tallying 26 winners. Meanwhile, Swiatek failed to break serve after the very first game of the first set. With this victory, Rybakina not only leveled their head-to-head record but also ended Swiatek's dream of completing a career Grand Slam.

The last time Rybakina reached the Australian Open women's singles semifinals was in 2023, where she lost to Sabalenka and finished as runner-up. Now back, wearing the new YONEX kit and wielding the VCORE 100 racquet, Rybakina is set to challenge for the second Grand Slam singles title of her career.

Pegula

Her semifinal opponent is American Pegula, who uses the YONEX EZONE 98 racquet. In the quarterfinals, Pegula saved a match point on her opponent's serve and defeated fellow American Anisimova 6-2, 7-6(1) to reach her first Australian Open semifinal. Notably, Pegula has also advanced to the semifinals without dropping a set, setting up what promises to be an exciting and intense “YONEX derby” between the two.