Of course, Sabalenka is the best hard-court player in the world. And she has been unbeatable in Rod Laver Arena over the years. However, the Belarusian has given her opponents some openings lately. She flirted with danger in a 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over Clara Tauson in the third round. And while the score might not say it, she gave Mirra Andreeva some chances in the second set of the fourth round. The teenager just wasn’t playing well enough to take advantage. Sabalenka then let Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova win a set in their quarterfinal match, despite being a massive favorite to win in straights.
For as good as Sabalenka is, she is always good for a few stretches in which her serve will escape her. She can also be a little too overzealous from the baseline. If either of those happen against an in-form Badosa, we’re probably going to see a deciding set.
Badosa has a good serve, some real power from the baseline and also an ability to hang around and force opponents to make mistakes with her defense. All of that will frustrate Sabalenka a bit. It’s also not like we haven’t seen Badosa give Sabalenka some matches in the past. She is healthy right now, playing with confidence and—also—very little pressure. Those things make her dangerous to Sabalenka, who has all the expectations in the world heading into this match.
Pick: Badosa +1.5 Sets (+110)
