Bill Gates attends Australian Open semi-final in Melbourne - in pictures

Elena Rybakina crushes Victoria Azarenka to make women's final

Microsoft founder Bill Gates attends the Australian Open semi-final between Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina and Belarus' Victoria Azarenka in Melbourne on Thursday, January 26, 2023. AFP

Bill Gates sits courtside as he watches the Australian Open women's singles semi-final between Elena Rybakina and' Victoria Azarenka in Melbourne. AFP

Bill Gates at Melbourne Park on Thursday. Getty

Bill Gates and his sister Kristianne Gates attend the Australian Open semi-final between Victoria Azarenka and Elena Rybakina. Reuters

Bill Gates at Melbourne Park on Thursday. Getty

Bill Gates attends the Australian Open semi-final on Thursday. Getty

Bill Gates at the semi-final between Elena Rybakina and Victoria Azarenka in Melbourne. Getty

Billie Jean-King is greeted as she arrives on Rod Laver Arena for the semi-final between Victoria Azarenka and Elena Rybakina. AP

Mayor of Melbourne Sally Capp at the Australian Open on Thursday. Getty

From left: Peaches Bartkowicz, Rosie Casals, Judy Dalton, Billie Jean King, Kerry Melville Reid, Kristy Pigeon, and Valerie Ziegenfuss ahead of the semi-final between Elena Rybakina and Victoria Azarenka. Getty

Singer Lorinda May Merrypor performs in Melbourne. Getty

Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka during her semi-final on Thursday. Reuters

Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina hits a return. Reuters

Elena Rybakina stormed into her first Australian Open final with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Victoria Azarenka in Melbourne on Thursday.

Wimbledon champion Rybakina will next meet the winner of the match between fifth-seeded Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka and unseeded Pole Magda Linette.

In a match that swung wildly, Rybakina held her nerve when it counted as 24th-seeded Belarusian Azarenka stumbled in a messy first set tiebreak then dropped serve twice to fall 5-2 behind in the second set.

Rybakina added to what already was an impressive run through a string of top opponents. Azarenka, the champion at Melbourne Park in 2012 and 2013, joined a list of players eliminated by Rybakina over the past two weeks that includes No 1 Iga Swiatek and No 17 Jelena Ostapenko — both winners of major titles — and 2022 Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins.

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates was among those in attendance at Melbourne Park on Thursday.