Facing the 33-year-old Russian, who had won two of their three meetings, Sabalenka easily dominated the first set before losing the second without discussion against an opponent who no longer made any mistakes. The Belarusian was again led 1-2 following a second break in the last set. The favorite managed to immediately reverse the situation in playing conditions disturbed by the wind to emerge after 1h53 of play.
The 26-year-old Belarusian lost her first set of the tournament but that will not prevent her from aiming for a third consecutive final at Melbourne Park in the semi-finals against Paula Badosa, her best friend on the circuit.
The Spaniard (WTA 12/N.11) created a surprise earlier in the day by eliminating the American Coco Gauff (WTA 3) 7-5, 6-4.
Sabalenka has won her last five matches against Badosa after losing the first two.
Zverev validates his ticket for the semi-finals
Alexander Zverev, 2nd in the ATP rankings, won his place in the semi-finals of the Australian Open tennis tournament on Tuesday for the second consecutive year and the third time in his career, after 2020. The German dismissed Tommy Paul, 11th in the world, in the quarter-finals.
The American made life difficult for “Sascha” for three sets but was unable to maintain his breaks in advance at key moments of the first two rounds. Zverev also showed himself to be far superior to the American in the tie-breaks, ultimately winning 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/0), 2-6, 6-1 at the at the end of 3h28 of play.
-Olympic champion in 2021, Zverev won for the first time in his career against Paul, after two defeats in 2020 and 2022.
“I should have been down two sets to zero, I wasn’t playing very well and he was. I don’t really know how, but I won the first set, the second… and the fourth set was the best that I played” on Tuesday, said the German.
Still in search of his first Grand Slam title at age 27 after two lost finals (US Open 2020, Roland-Garros 2024), Zverev will play his 9th Grand Slam semi-final. He will face Carlos Alcaraz (3rd) or Novak Djokovic (7th) in the semi-final, who will face each other in a shock quarter-final on Tuesday evening.
The German leads 6-5 in his confrontations against Alcaraz and is trailed 8-4 in those against Djokovic.
