The Kazakh fifth seed, who is targeting a second Grand Slam crown, fought her way into the title match by downing American sixth seed Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-6 (9/7) in a 1hr 40min arm-wrestle.
The 26-year-old’s reward is a clash on Saturday against the Belarusian, who shattered her dreams three years ago by rallying from a set down to lift the trophy.
“It was a great battle and I think just in the end she played a bit better and she won that match, very deserved,” Rybakina said of the 2023 Melbourne decider.
“I want to enjoy the final and, hopefully, I’m going to serve better than today and it’s going to help me and we will see.
“But I’m so excited to play.”
Like Sabalenka, she is yet to drop a set all tournament, although Pegula went close.
After dominating the first set, it was a tense finish for Rybakina with Pegula saving three match points on her own serve then breaking as the Kazakh served for the match.
“It was such a battle. It was an epic second set. I’m really glad I managed to win it,” she said.
“I’m really proud that no matter the situation, I was leading, and then, of course, it was very tight, I still stayed there. I was fighting for each point and just happy.
“Overall, it’s a lot of positives to take. I just now need some rest.”
Moscow-born Rybakina, who defeated second seed Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals, is trying to get back on the Grand Slam title board for the first time in three-and-a-half years after winning Wimbledon in 2022.
She has been in sizzling recent form, beating Sabalenka to win the WTA Finals in Riyadh in November and winning 19 of her last 20 matches.
Sabalenka powered into her fourth Australian Open final in a row with a dominant win over Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the other semi-final.
There was no handshake afterwards in the politically charged encounter as top-ranked Sabalenka triumphed 6-2, 6-3.
It denied the 12th-seeded Svitolina a piece of history, having been on the brink of becoming the first woman from Ukraine to reach a Grand Slam singles final in the Open era.
Like other players from Ukraine, Svitolina does not shake hands with opponents from Russia or Moscow’s ally Belarus because of the war.
Sabalenka was close to tears afterwards as she reflected on the “dream” life she leads.
She had warm words for Svitolina, saying: “I’m super happy with the win, she’s a really tough opponent, she was playing really incredible tennis throughout the whole week.
“But the job is not done yet.”
Both were cheered on to court, but the reception was slightly louder for the four-time major champion from Belarus.
Each came into the encounter in red-hot form, yet to drop a set in Melbourne and on 10-match winning runs, Sabalenka having won in Brisbane in the lead-up and Svitolina triumphing in Auckland.
There was controversy at the start of the fourth game.
With the match on serve, Sabalenka was hit with a hindrance call for grunting, triggering a long video review and boos.
A clearly irritated Sabalenka lost the point but recovered her poise to break for 3-1, then held for 4-1.
Sabalenka was stunned in the final 12 months ago by Madison Keys and has said that retaking her Melbourne crown was her number one priority, calling it “trophy or nothing”.
The hard-hitting 27-year-old was in determined mood, breaking again on the way to sealing the set in 41 dominant minutes.
The 31-year-old Svitolina struck back to start the second set, breaking the Sabalenka serve for a 2-0 lead.
A pumped-up Sabalenka roared back and reeled off five games in a row for 5-2 to stand on the cusp of another final. (AFP)
