Aryna Sabalenka is through to her third consecutive Australian Open final (Image: Getty)
Aryna Sabalenka has offered to take defeated semi-finalist Paula Badosa shopping after dumping her out of the .
Sabalenka earned a guaranteed £1.5million for making it to her third consecutive final, after beating world No.12 Badosa in straight sets.
The pair are good friends off the court and Sabalenka has promised to treat Badosa to a spot of shopping prior to Saturday’s final.
Speaking to Jelena Dokic after the semi-final, Sabalenka said: “I hope she’s still my friend. I’m sure she hates me for the next hours and day, it’s okay I can handle that.
“After that I think we’ll be back as friends, back going out together, shopping… I promise Paula we’ll go shopping and I’ll pay for whatever she wants.”
When quizzed on how she’ll prepare for the upcoming final clash, the Belarussian added: “It’s all about having fun on the next day and putting aside tennis. Of course, I’m going to practice a bit, but for the rest of the day I’ll put aside tennis.
“Shopping with Paula? Maybe, I hope she’ll still be here and we can go shop. But I’ll put a limit for her because she can go crazy.”
“I think after a couple of battles against each other, we spoke and decided to put it to one side. She wanted it badly, we both wanted it badly, it’s our dream.
“Here we’re opponents and no matter what happens on the court, we are going to be friends after our matches. It’s tough to do but we agreed on that.”
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