 Alina Rabakina vs Victoria Azarenka is the first semi-final for the ladies Australian Open for 2023. And both ladies have had interesting roads to get to this stage. Azarenka started the tournament off as the number 24 seed and will take on Sofia Kenan in the first round. And after a close second set she got through in straights 6-4, 7-6. And the second round she'll take on Potoroska. And this was by far the easiest match for Azarenka, getting through in straight sets 6-1, 6-love. And the third round she'll take on last year's semi-final is Madison Keyes, the number 10 seed. And after dropping the first set we'll come back to win 1-6, 6-2, 6-1. In the fourth round she'll take on the unseeded Zoo who had just beaten Maria Sakri in the previous round. And this was the toughest match for Azarenka yet. Losing the first set but coming back in 3-4, 6-6, 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals. In the semi-finals Azarenka will take on the number 3 seed Pagula who had not lost a set to get to this stage. But as the Rankers experience showed through, getting through in straight sets 6-4, 6-1. In the first round Rabakina came in as the 22nd seed and will take on Chucky Areto. And after a close first set she got through in straights winning through 7-5, 6-3. In the second round she took on the youngster Yuvane but this was no trouble for Rabakina getting through easily under an hour 6-2, 6-1. In the third round she'll take on the 13th seed and last year's finalist Daniel Collins. And after dropping the second set she eventually got through in 3-6-2, 5-7, 6-2. In the fourth round she took on the number one player in the world, Egish Fiontek, a player that she had beat in an exhibition only a couple of weeks ago. And after a very close couple of sets Rabakina got through taking out the champ, taking out the world number one 6-4, 6-4 to advance to her first Australian Open Quarterfinal. In her quarterfinal Rabakina would take on fellow Grand Slam champion Osta Penko, the number 17 seed. And after a brief reign delay in the start of the match Rabakina demolished Osta Penko 6-2, 6-4 to get to her first Australian Open semi-final. These two have only played the one time before with Rabakina getting the win at Indian Wells. So it'd be interesting to see who has the psychological advantage because of course Azarenka has been in the semi-finals of Australia many times. If Azarenka's going to win this one she needs to be aggressive and move Rabakina around. We know Rabakina's got great ground strokes in the middle of the baseline, but if Azarenka can move her around then maybe there's going to be a chance for Azarenka to make another Australian Open final. If Rabakina's going to win she needs to serve well and she needs to be the aggressor. She needs to get Azarenka moving. That's something that Pagula couldn't quite do. So Rabakina can get that working and obviously serve well. She might be able to make her first Grand Saint Final in Australia. This is a very interesting match. We didn't get this at the start of the tournament I guess. Nobody predicted this. We had Shveontek, Pagula potentially in this part of the draw, but I'm going to go with Rabakina. I think she's going to get her second slam at the end of the day. So I'm going to pick her to make the final and keep on going maybe in three sets. But Azarenka is going to be tough, but let me know in the comments below. Who do you think is going to win this semi-final clash?