(Melbourne) World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka qualified on Tuesday, not without trembling, for the semi-finals of the Australian Open and is only two games away from a third consecutive title in Melbourne, a performance which would be unpublished since 1999.
Posted at 6:26 a.m.
The Belarusian won 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 against the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (32e), and thus equalized with two victories everywhere in their direct confrontations.
She will face the Spaniard Paula Badosa (12th) in the semi-finals.e), who qualified earlier in the day by surprising 3e world Coco Gauff with a score of 7-5, 6-4.
Tuesday against Pavlyuchenkova, Sabalenka clearly dominated the first set before experiencing a slump at 1-1 in the second set.
-While leading 40-0 on her serve, the 26-year-old Belarusian lost five points in a row (2-1) and was broken again to finally lose the set 6-2.
The world No. 1 was caught twice again at the start of the third set, but immediately erased her delay (2-2), before making a decisive break in the eighth game (5-3 ), to finally conclude a long game of almost two hours.
Sabalenka and Badosa have faced each other seven times so far, with a record of five victories for the Belarusian and two for the Spaniard, who will play her first Grand Slam semi-final on Thursday.
If the world No.1 won in Melbourne for the third year in a row, she would equal the Swiss Martina Hingis, winner of the Australian Open in 1997, 1998 and 1999.
