- Aryna Sabalenka storms into the semifinals at the US Open. She soon took over the top of the world rankings.
- The 25-year-old Belarusian doesn’t give Qinwen Zheng a chance in the quarter-finals and, like in 2021 and 2022, is in the semi-finals. There she meets local hero Madison Keys, who prevails against Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova.
- Coco Gauff – Karolina Muchova is the other semi-final pairing.
Wednesday’s quarter-final affixes
- Aryna Sabalenka (BLR/WTA 2) s. Qinwen Zheng (CHN/WTA 23) 6-1, 6-4
For the 5th time in a row, Aryna Sabalenka is in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament. After the US Open, Belarusian will replace Iga Swiatek as number 1 in the world. After a demonstration of power, the 25-year-old is targeting her second Grand Slam triumph after Melbourne at the beginning of the year. Sabalenka left no doubt about the winner in her 6:1, 6:4 quarter-final win against the Chinese Zheng Qinwen.
Legend:
Future number 1
Aryna Sabalenka.
Keystone/Seth Little
Zheng, on the other hand, missed out on becoming the third Chinese to make the round of four in New York after Li Na (2013) and Peng Shuai (2014). In the first set, the 20-year-old found no recipe at all against her opponent’s powerful game, her weak serve rate played into Sabalenka’s cards. In the second round, Zheng improved, but it wasn’t enough.
- Madison Keys (USA/WTA 17) sees Marketa Vondrousova (CZE/WTA 9) 6:1, 6:4
With exactly the same score as Sabalenka, Madison Keys also qualified for the semifinals. The American, who was in the final in 2017, played her no-frills game against Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova rigorously from the start. The 28-year-old convinced with an aggressive baseline game paired with well-timed net attacks. Vondrousova only managed to win the first game when the score was 5:0.
The second set was more balanced, with Keys making the decisive break to make it 5:4. After almost an hour and a half, the number 17 in the world used her 3rd match point.
The game had to be interrupted for several minutes during the first game because a spectator felt uncomfortable. As in the past few days, the sweltering temperatures bothered players and fans alike.