Aryna Sabalenka, champion of the Australian Open for the 2023 season, hopes to sleep last Sunday night when her fate regarding world number 1 is decided.
But when Jelena Ostapenko took the first set from Iga Swiatek, the world number 2 couldn’t turn off the television.
“I was really curious about, like, what happened there,” Sabalenka revealed afterwards.
What happened was the defeat in straight sets, so Swiatek had to let go of the 75 consecutive weeks that he occupied as world number 1 to end and open the way for world number 2. When the world number 2 woke up on Monday morning this week, there were messages coming her way.
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“I just opened my cell phone,” said Sabalenka. “And I thought, I have matches to play, I have some things I have to overcome. I try to focus on the match, not let it distract me.”
This doesn’t bother the tennis player. The second seed immediately crushed Daria Kasatkina in straight sets. Then in the quarterfinals of the US Open, he again claimed a convincing 6-0, 6-4 victory over Chinese tennis player, Zheng Qinwen after 73 minutes.
The 2023 Madrid champion served brilliantly, winning 37 of 46 points and not facing a single break point opportunity. The 20-year-old Zheng looked clearly quite overwhelmed in the first Grand Slam quarter-final of his career.
“I think I definitely played an impressive game,” Aryna Sabalenka said. “Very happy with my performance. I gave myself another chance to play better in the semifinals.”
The 2023 Australian Open champion has now won the first seven Grand Slam quarterfinals of his career. The semifinal at the US Open this season will be the third semifinal in a row in New York for the second seed after she lost to Leylah Annie Fernandez (2021) and Swiatek (2022).
Advancing to the fifth Grand Slam semifinal in a row, the second seed will duel against the 2023 Wimbledon champion, Marketa Vondrousova or the 2017 US Open runner-up, Madison Keys for a place in the top match.
