NEW YORK: World number two Aryna Sabalenka demolished Olympic gold medallist Zheng Qinwen to reach a fourth successive US Open semifinal on Tuesday.
Australian Open champion Sabalenka, runner-up to Coco Gauff in New York last year, triumphed 6-1, 6-2 and will take on Emma Navarro of the United States for a place in the final.
It will be a ninth career semifinal at the Slams for the 26-year-old from Belarus.
She also defeated the Chinese star at the same stage of the US Open in 2023 before going on to beat the 21-year-old again in the Australian Open final in January.
“It was important that I got the early break, that was an advantage because it’s tough to face her,” said Sabalenka after her 73-minute win which saw Zheng hit just nine winners.
The 13th-seeded Navarro reached her maiden Slam semifinal earlier Tuesday with a straight-sets victory over Paula Badosa of Spain.
Sabalenka and Navarro are 1-1 in their head-to-head meetings with both clashes coming this season.
The American won at Indian Wells before Sabalenka came out on top at the French Open.
“The drinks are on me if you cheer for me,” Sabalenka told the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd in an effort to drum up backing for the semifinal against the New York-born Navarro.
“She’s a really good player. We had two battles, they were really close.”
Sabalenka demolishes Zheng to reach fourth US Open semifinal
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Sabalenka demolishes Zheng to reach fourth US Open semifinal
- It will be a ninth career semifinal at the Slams for the 26-year-old from Belarus
Siniakova ends Andreeva Indian Wells defense in third round
- Siniakova, a former doubles number one, will face either Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina or American Ashlyn Krueger for a place in the quarter-finals
INDIAN WELLS, United States: Unseeded Katerina Siniakova ended a frustrated Mirra Andreeva’s Indian Wells title defense on Monday, rallying for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over the eighth-ranked Russian.
The 18-year-old Andreeva had opened her repeat bid with an imperious 6-0, 6-0 demolition of Solana Sierra.
But she was in trouble early and often against 44th-ranked Siniakova in a rollercoaster contest that featured seven service breaks for each player and 43 break chances between them.
When she sailed a swinging volley long to surrender the second set, Andreeva threw her racquet in disgust.
She regrouped to break Siniakova for a 3-2 lead in the third, but Siniakova won the next four games.
The Czech saved a pair of break points in the final game before sealing the match with a shot that struck the net cord and dribbled over as Andreeva could only watch, disappointment sparking another outburst from the Russian as she departed the court.
Siniakova, a former doubles number one, will face either Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina or American Ashlyn Krueger for a place in the quarter-finals.
In other early matches, fifth-seeded American Jessica Pegula shook off a slow start to beat Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Pegula, coming off her fourth career WTA 1000 title at Dubai last month, fired 11 aces with just one double fault as she rallied for the win.
“I think today I had to kind of snap myself back and kind of lock in to not let that get away from me,” said Pegula, who said she was in danger of letting negativity and frustration get the better of her.
“I didn’t think I was playing bad. It was just letting a couple chances, couple breaks here and there (get away), maybe a couple shots that I could have been more aggressive on.”
Later on Stadium Court, world number two Iga Swiatek took on Greece’s Maria Sakkari — the woman she beat in the Indian Wells finals in 2022 and 2024.
Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina, who lifted the Indian wells Trophy in 2023, played Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the final match of the night.
