By Shrivathsa Sridhar and Ian Ransom MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka and Madison Keys made sluggish starts on Thursday but sealed contrasting victories to set up an Australian Open final showdown that will pit two of the game's heavy hitters against each other.

Aryna Sabalenka’s bid for a third consecutive Australian Open championship will continue after she got past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in a surprisingly difficult quarterfinal.

Aryna Sabalenka has been through to her third consecutive Australian Open final after beating best friend Paula Badosa 6-4 6-2. Playing in her maiden Grand Slam semifinal, the 11th-seeded Spaniard came out firing and she claimed an early break for a 2-0 lead and even had 40/0 on her serve.