“I love it, I love it” said Sabalenka, the defending champion, of her rematch with Gauff. “After the US Open, I really wanted that revenge.”

Such openness is rare in the ever-guarded world of elite sport. Gunning for revenge is not the done thing, and it takes a certain kind of heart-on-sleeve character, a certain brand of chutzpah, to publicly declare vengeance as a source of motivation. Keegan, who would perhaps recognise in Sabalenka a kindred spirit, never did get the cathartic title win he craved, his Newcastle side entering a late tailspin as he refused to rein in his commitment to all-out attack. Sabalenka lives by a similar philosophy, and it served her well as she claimed a 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 victory to move into a second straight final at Melbourne Park, the first woman to do since Serena Williams in 2017.

“I think in New York I played a little bit passive tennis,” said Sabalenka, whose 20 net approaches and 33 winners on this occasion spoke of a woman resolved not to repeat past mistakes. 

“I didn’t put so much pressure on her. I mean, I did in the first set, but then I kind of slowed down and started just trying to play rallies with her, which was not working well. 

“The whole pre-season I was working on those approach shots, on coming to the net and finishing the point [at] the net. I’m super happy that I was able to do that on court today, and I think that’s the difference between these two matches.”

Through to a third consecutive grand slam final on hard courts, Sabalenka, who has yet to drop a drop set at the tournament, will face Qinwen Zheng in Saturday’s final. The 21-year-old from China, seeded 12th, defeated Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine 6-4, 6-4.

Unbeaten in 13 matches at Melbourne Park, Sabalenka has steadily grown in stature over the past 17 months, reaching the semi-finals or better at each of the past six majors. But while the odds clearly favour the holder, it will not have gone unnoticed in Zheng’s camp that Sabalenka has also shown a tendency to falter at critical moments. She has squandered one-set leads against Iga Swiatek and Gauff at the US Open, lost to Karolina Pliskova and Ons Jabeur from a set up at at Wimbledon, and missed a match point against Karolina Muchova at last year’s French Open. It is not for want of opportunity that last year’s Australian Open victory remains Sabalenka’s sole success at this level. 

History threatened to repeat itself against Gauff, who clawed her way back from 2-5 down in the opening set to come within two points of clinching it, and fought tigerishly throughout the second. This time, though, Sabalenka would not be denied, even when Gauff produced a brilliant 121mph body serve to stave off a set point at 5-4 in the opener. She kept swinging freely, determined to play the match on her own terms, and her conviction was equally unwavering two games later, with the American serving at 6-5, 30-0. After pounding her way to parity, Sabalenka sustained her momentum into the tiebreak, winning six of the first seven points to establish an unassailable lead. 

An unreturnable serve sealed the set, and the 25-year-old’s belief in her fearsome delivery was equally evident when, after breaking nine games later, she produced two of only four aces on the night to serve out the win.

“I had chances in both sets, but she played better tonight,” said Gauff, who struggled in the previous round against Marta Kostyuk but performed markedly better here, after missing out on the opportunity to climb to a career-high ranking of No 2 in the world. 

“I felt like I did my best with the game plan that I had. I think it just came down to a couple of points, and that’s tennis.”

Like Gauff, Zheng’s previous best run at a major also came in New York, where she reached the quarter-finals last September before falling to Sabalenka in straight sets. That experience served her well against Yastremska, who made an auspicious start to the biggest match of her career, claiming an early break, only to relinquish the advantage immediately with four double faults. Grateful for the second chance, Zheng promptly held to love before forging ahead in the seventh game after the Ukrainian suffered an abdominal injury that required a medical timeout.

“Definitely she has a lot of nice opportunities to win a grand slam,” said Yastremska, 23, of her impressive opponent. “I think she’s a great player. She has powerful shots and a really good serve. 

“If she will be able to stay stable emotionally, and if she will be able to hold her level up like she did today pretty well in important moments, she can win – and she can win, I will say, even pretty easy. But it’s going to be a good fight.”

With Sabalenka seeking to become the first woman to mount a successful title defence since her compatriot Victoria Azarenka in 2013, and Zheng aiming to mark the 10th anniversary of Li Na’s victory by becoming only the second Chinese player in history to lift the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, a good fight is the least it should be.

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Zheng, the 12th seed, fought back from a set down against Anna Kalinskaya to reach the last four at Melbourne Park, a 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-1 victory confirming the deepest grand slam run of her career, following last year’s quarter-final finish at the US Open. Long tipped as a future grand slam champion, she will next face Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Linda Noskova, the Czech teenager who stunned top seed Iga Swiatek in the third round.

“I’m so happy right now, really excited,” Zheng enthused in her on-court interview with Jelena Dokic. “It’s the first time for me, I’m really happy to be in the semi-finals, especially with such a good performance.”

That breakthrough, which puts Zheng within two wins of emulating her childhood idol, follows a surprise meeting with Na, who is in town for the legends’ event and greeted her countrywoman with a convivial pat on the derrière as she was performing a television interview. Zheng, who has said she watched the video of Na’s triumph “more than 10 times” as a young girl but had never previously spoken with her, was evidently inspired by the meeting. She has since gone from strength to strength, and next week she will break into the world’s top 10 for the first time – although she was unaware of that impending milestone until informed by Dokic. 

“Thanks for letting me know that,” said Zheng, before showing something of Na’s mischievous wit. “Nobody tells me anything.” 

Zheng’s hopes of earning a place in the pantheon alongside Na seemed to be in jeopardy early on. She struggled to find her first serve and emerged from the opening set with a win rate of just 42% behind the second, enabling Kalinskaya to bounce back immediately from a pair of early breaks. 

“I lost the first set because I got those early breaks [and] then, later on, I’m not able to keep my serve,” said Zheng. “When I lost the first set, directly, I tried to tell myself, ‘Stay focused. Don’t think too much. Just focus right now.’  

“The first set proved thinking too much was not helping, and you can’t play your best tennis there.”

Having wiped the mental slate clean, Zheng was a player transformed in the second set, raising her level on serve and showed greater composure, patience and quality in the baseline exchanges. Those virtues were never more evident than in the eighth game, where she converted the only break point of the set by maintaining line and length until the right ball presented itself, at which point she caught out Kalinskaya with a sudden and forceful change of direction.

A similar play earned Zheng an early break in the decider, this time off a razor-sharp return, and from there her clarity of purpose and clean, early ball-striking became irresistible, belief draining rapidly from the Russian as she struggled with a right hip injury that required a medical timeout.  

Zheng’s progress in Melbourne has echoed that of Na in 2014, big names toppling all around her until she herself finally became the biggest name left standing, at least in the top half of the draw. For Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka then, read Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula now. 

Nor do the similarities end there: just as Na navigated her way to the title without facing any of her top-20 rivals, so Zheng has arrived in the semi-finals without facing anyone ranked higher than Katie Boulter, the British world No 54.

The omens could not be more encouraging as she prepares to face Yastremska, whose fearless run from qualifying to the last four harks back to Emma Raducanu’s extraordinary title win at the 2021 US Open.

“The feeling is just… I can’t explain in words right now, because there are so many inside,” said Zheng. “Happiness. Of course, I’m proud of myself. But, you know, this is just the beginning.”

It just might be.

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Inspired by passion for her native Ukraine and the ardent support of a crowd that had taken her to their hearts over the course of the most emotionally turbulent week of her life, Yastremska’s tenacious run to the final has been the story of the tournament. Zhang’s 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory was never going to change that.

It hardly seemed fair that, when the final point was won, the applause for Zhang, a former world No 23 and twice a grand slam winner in doubles, was interspersed by boos. Yet such is the impassioned nature of the goodwill Yastremska has earned over the course of a week when she dedicated each successive win to her country.

The background to Yastremska’s campaign is familiar by now, yet it bears recounting. A week ago, the 21-year-old was sheltering alongside her family in an underground car park as Russian bombs rained down on her hometown of Odessa. After two days, she bade her parents a tearful farewell on the Romanian border before fleeing to France with her younger sister Ivanna. By the time she arrived in Lyon as a wildcard ranked 140 in the world, she had not slept for three days.

The courage and spirit she has shown since have captured hearts and minds far beyond the world of tennis. She leaves Lyon 37 places better off in the rankings – still some way off her career-high of 21 – but with her place in the affections of the global public inestimably elevated.

There were tears in defeat from the Ukrainian, just as there had been tears following her tense opening-round victory over Ana Bogdan and her semi-final win against second seed Sorana Cirstea. At a moment when tennis seems irrelevant, Yastremska’s fortitude has imbued it with fresh meaning, a feeling underlined by her pledge to donate her €14,545 (£12,000) prize money to humanitarian relief efforts in her homeland.

“The prize money I’ve earned here I’m going to give to the Ukrainian foundation to support Ukraine,” said Yastremska, who has been awarded a wildcard for Indian Wells after the withdrawal of Camila Giorgi enabled Naomi Osaka to gain direct entry.

“If Ukrainian people are watching me, I want to say you guys are so strong, you have an amazing spirit. I tried to fight for Ukraine. I want to thanks to every single person from Ukraine for standing by the Ukraine and showing people that we have a really strong spirit.”

In victory, Zhang did more than just deny Yastremska the fourth title of her fledgling career. She rewrote the emotionally compelling narrative surrounding her young opponent, whose improbable fortitude had created a seemingly unstoppable momentum around her following her recovery from match points down against Bogdan in the opening round. 

“I know it’s a big, tough time for you, but you are a fighter, I saw the last three years,” said Zhang, whose win marked her first title outside China. “You grew up so quick, you played unbelievable tennis. You are the best. For sure you will win a lot of tournaments, you will keep going.”

Persistence has defined Zhang, too. Twice the champion in Guangzhou, she last entered the winners’ circle in 2017. Finals in Hobart and Nottingham have since come and gone without success, and it required an almighty effort to avoid a third successive disappointment.

In an enthralling tussle peppered with precise, powerful hitting from both women, fortune smiled on Yastremska as early as the second point, when some desperate retrieving in the face of a baseline onslaught from Zhang culminated with a backhand winner that died off the net tape. Having broken in the sixth game after some uncharacteristically wayward play by Zhang, Yastremska benefited from another stroke of good luck, a running forehand clipping the net at the end of a lung-busting rally as she held for 5-2.

Those early moments hinted that destiny might be on Yastremska’s side, yet the Ukrainian seemed perfectly capable of forging her own path, fearlessly smoking winners from the back of the court whenever the opportunity arose and defending with tenacious athleticism when Zhang got the first strike in.

Having conceded her first set of the week, the eighth-seeded Zhang showed impressive resolve. The 33-year-old fought her way back from early breaks in the second and third sets, and her determination was rewarded in the ninth game of the decider as a net cord of her own elicited an error from Yastremska that paved the way for a break point. Zhang grasped the opportunity gleefully, running her opponent from pillar to post before sealing the decisive breakthrough with a measured forehand placement. Ultimately, it was perhaps a match too far for Yastremska, whose extraordinary courage in the face of unimaginable personal anguish had made a modest WTA 250 event the focus of global attention and goodwill. 

“It’s been a really tough week for me,” said Yastremska, a Ukrainian flag draped around her shoulders, just as it had been before and after each of her four previous matches. 

“All this week I’ve been fighting here on court not just for myself, but for my country. I’m very happy still with [reaching] the finals, because it’s been a very long time I haven’t played in the finals. 

“Today I think I didn’t have enough emotion. I was pretty tired, but the crowds here and the people since I arrived here, it’s been amazing. Everybody was supporting me a lot and I felt so much power from the people here.”

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With explosions rocking the city, the family took shelter in a nearby underground car park. After two days, Yastremska’s father, Alexander, had seen enough. Before the war erupted, he had intended to accompany Dayana, the world No 128, to this week’s WTA event in Lyon, for which his daughter had been given a wildcard. Now he determined to send his wife Marina and their two daughters to France while he stayed in Ukraine.

A harrowing journey to the Romanian border followed, at the end of which Dayana and Ivanna, 15, bade farewell to both their parents after Marina made a last-minute decision to remain with her husband.

“I don’t know how everything will end, but you have to take care of each other,” Alexander told his daughters. “You have to build your new life.”

After a tearful farewell, Yastremska continued the journey to France with Ivanna, a promising junior on the ITF circuit, by boat and then air.

“We were shocked, but at the same time we didn’t want our father to stay alone there,” said Yastremska. “Ivanna started to cry a lot, and I had to keep my emotions under control because I took a big responsibility.”

Granted a wildcard for the doubles, the sisters were beaten 6-2, 6-4 on Monday by Georgina Garcia-Pérez of Spain and Switzerland’s Xenia Knoll. But on Tuesday evening, Dayana pulled off a remarkable victory in her opening singles match, prevailing 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (9-7) against Ana Bogdan of Romania after saving two match points.

It would have been a notable comeback at the best of times; in the circumstances, it was an extraordinary display of courage, tenacity and self-belief. Never a player to hold back, Yastremska snatched both match points from Bogdan’s hands with typically bold play. Serving at 5-6 in the second set, she retreated deep into her backhand corner to smoke a forehand winner, denying the Romanian a straight-sets win. Yastremska repeated the trick with Bogdan leading 7-6 in the climactic tiebreak. By then, she had blown three match points of her own, her anguish evident as she relinquished a 6-3 lead, missing a pair of forehands before hitting her first double fault of the set. 

When the final point was won, after three hours and five minutes, the sense of relief was palpable. As her sister celebrated at courtside, Yastremska fell to her knees, overcome by emotion, before sharing a warm embrace with Bogdan and draping herself in a Ukrainian flag. The hardest match of her life, she would later call it.

“Definitely I’m going to remember this match,” said Yastremska in her on-court interview, acknowledging that leaving her parents behind had been “very tough emotionally”.  

“I’m happy that I won for my country, and at the same time I’m very sad,” Yastremska added.

“My heart stays at home and my mind is fighting here, so it’s very difficult to find the concentration, to find the balance and everything. 

“This win, compared with what is going on in my country, is nothing. But I’m happy, at least, that I’m also fighting for my country. I’m very proud of the Ukrainians, they’re really heroes.”

Yastremska’s sentiments were echoed by her compatriot Svitolina, who later beat Russia’s Anastasia Potapova in the opening round of the Monterrey Open. Svitolina, who won 6-2, 6-1, said she was on a mission for her country.

“I think it’s my mission to unite our tennis community to stand with Ukraine, to help Ukraine because what we’re going through is a horrible thing for all Ukrainians,” said Svitolina, the former world No 3, who is donating her prize money from the tournament to the Ukrainian army.  

“That’s why I’m here. That’s why I’m playing for my country and doing my best, using my platform and using my resources to introduce that, and trying to invite people to support Ukraine.” 

Svitolina, the world No 15, only went ahead with the match after the sport’s governing bodies followed the International Olympic Committee’s recommendation only to allow Russian and Belarusian players to compete as neutral athletes. Wearing the blue and gold colours of her country’s flag, she cut a focused and hugely determined figure, never allowing her intensity to drop off.

“For me, playing the match here, I’m not playing only for myself,” said the Olympic bronze medalist. “I’m playing for my country, I’m playing for the help of the Ukrainian army and people in need. Every victory that I’m going to get is going to be very special.”

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