Aryna Sabalenka emulates Serena Williams & Martina Hingis as she survives Australian Open scare
Aryna Sabalenka kept her hopes of winning a hattrick of Australian Open titles alive as she survived a scare to overcome Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarter-finals in Melbourne.
The world No 1 earned a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory against 33-year-old Russian Pavlyuchenkova, the 27th seed, in windy conditions on Rod Laver Arena.
Sabalenka looked in real danger after being broken five times in a row — three times in a one-sided second set and in her opening two service games of the third set.
However, the two-time defending champion fought back in the decider before securing the critical break when Pavlyuchenkova served at 3-4. Sabalenka had not lost a set at the Australian Open since 2023.
“Honestly I was just praying today, I was just praying to just, you know, put the ball back in these tough conditions,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. “We both were just trying to put the ball back and it was very difficult to play.
“She played amazing tennis, very aggressive and I mean I’m just super happy I was able to somehow, somehow magically win this match. Sometimes, maybe it’s good to have these tough battles, to go through it, to be tougher for the last stages of the tournament.”
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With her 19th successive victory at the Australian Open, Sabalenka has become the first woman to win this many matches in a row at the tournament since Swiss great Martina Hingis.
Sabalenka is vying to become the first woman to win three consecutive Australian Open titles since Hingis — who amassed a 27-match winning streak between 1997 and 2000 having triumphed in 1997, 1998 and 1999 and reached the final in 2000.
The 26-year-old Belarusian is also the first player since tennis icon Serena Williams to reach six straight women’s singles semi-finals at hard-court Grand Slams — a run that started at the 2022 US Open. Williams’ run stretched from the 2014 US Open and the 2017 Australian Open.
Sabalenka lost in the last four of the US Open in 2022 and was a runner-up in 2023 before she won her maiden title at Flushing Meadows in 2024.
The three-time major winner will face her close friend Paula Badosa in the semi-finals at Melbourne Park after the 12th-ranked Spaniard stunned world No 3 Coco Gauff 7-5, 6-4 in the last eight earlier on Tuesday.
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