Rybakina is through to her first major final since Sabalenka recorded a three-set comeback victory to lift her first Grand Slam trophy in Melbourne three years ago.
The Kazakh fifth seed will relish the opportunity for a rematch after winning each of her last nine matches against fellow top 10 players, including world number two Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals and now sixth seed Pegula.
Rybakina looked set to make serene progress to the final after wrapping up the first set with a confident forehand winner and maintaining the momentum by striking with a break early in the second set.
A rare moment of encouragement for Pegula was short-lived as Rybakina responded to an initial loss of serve by immediately breaking back and clawing her way to a 5-3 lead.
But more twists followed as Pegula escaped three match points on serve before taking advantage of a poor game from Rybakina to draw level at 5-5 and draw a dramatic conclusion.
Rybakina impressively resets again and creates a second chance to serve out the win, only for a resurgent Pegula to force a tiebreak.
As in the previous games, the chaotic tie-break seesawed back and forth, but Rybakina held her nerve through two set points and grabbed her fourth match point with a backhand winner.
No player on the WTA Tour has recorded more wins than Rybakina since the end of Wimbledon last year (37), with the only defeat in her past 20 matches coming against Karolina Muchova in Brisbane earlier this month.
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