The Australian Open semifinals will take place on Thursday, January 23, 2025.
Your Australian Open 2025 Final 4!!!!
Who will take the title? 🏆 pic.twitter.com/yHZZi3a7r0
— m (@goatrenka) January 22, 2025
Here is a preview of the matches followed by predictions.
1. Australian Open Semifinals Match #1: Aryna Sabalenka vs. Paula Badosa
There are a lot of things surprising about this match. To begin with, it is the first semifinals match. Aryna Sabalenka is the World No. 1 and two-time defending champion so the timing is odd.
Beyond that, a select few would have predicted that Sabalenka’s good friend Paula Badosa would be her opponent. Many expected Coco Gauff to be playing Sabalenka.
Sabalenka and Badosa are such good friends that they have their own moniker: Sabadosa.
They have played seven times with Sabalenka winning five of the matches. Some of those matches occurred on or around Badosa’s injuries. Sabalenka will face a healthy and thriving Badosa.
The edge still has to go to Sabalenka who is undefeated in Australia this year with a win at Brisbane International before arriving at Melbourne. Badosa’s best chance is to play cleanly and weather a storm of strong hitting by Sabalenka before serving woes or unforced errors could creep into her game if she gets tight thinking about a potential Australian Open three-peat.
We hope this match is a high quality affair. Knowing how close they are off-the-court concerns us that we will see watered-down tennis like we sometimes saw when Venus and Serena Williams faced each other.
This match is scheduled to begin at approximately 3:30 AM EST on 1/23/25 and will air live on ESPN.
2. Australian Open Semifinals Match #2: Iga Swiatek vs. Madison Keys
Iga Swiatek is known for her stellar clay court play. However, she has been the most dominant semifinalist in Melbourne this year. Swiatek has not dropped a set and has had barely any trouble through her matches.
That is expected to change as she faces resurging Madison Keys. Keys turns 30 this year, but she has looked like the Keys of old in 2025. Injuries last year limited her. She is a newlywed, with a new racquet (Yonex instead of Wilson), a new serving technique, and a lot of confidence after winning Adelaide International.
She has even surprised many at this tournament by playing some excellent net points against Elina Svitolina. It is not what she is known for, but it adds to her mystique this year.
Keys is the sentimental favorite, but the overall favorite is Swiatek who leads their head-to-head matchup 4-1, but that one Keys win was on hardcourts.
This match is scheduled to begin at approximately 4:40 AM EST on 1/23/25 and will air live on ESPN.
