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Stuart Goodwin and Emillia Hawkins kickstart the weekend’s football programme with our unmissable rolling blog that rises early to provide all the breaking news and vibes from around the grounds. There’ll be buildup to Saturday’s five Premier League matches, a full Championship and lower-division programme, plus plenty of swirl around the Bundesliga and La Liga, with Bayern Munich and Barcelona in action. Why not join the conversation by sending your thoughts and observations to matchday.live@theguardian.com?
Last year’s final brought heartache for Aryna Sabalenka but her consistency since the start of 2025 has been impressive, with the world No 1 reaching the final at nine of the 16 events she contested. And yet she won only four of those, with her losses including painful close defeats in Melbourne against Madison Keys and at the French Open against Coco Gauff. Sabalenka did secure her fourth grand slam title at the US Open, beating Amanda Anisimova, and now she faces a rematch of her first grand slam final, when she overcame Elena Rybakina in Melbourne in a 2023 classic. Sabalenka has cruised through to the final but she will have to step up against the fifth seed in what is their 15th meeting. Sabalenka leads the head-to-head 8-6 but they were tied at two apiece last year, with Rybakina winning their most recent meeting, the climax of the WTA Finals in November. Katy Murrells keeps the updates flowing on our live blog, with Tumaini Carayol and Jack Snape our reporting team at Melbourne Park.
