For her fourth semi-final in a row in Melbourne, the Belarusian will face the American Coco Gauff (3rd) or the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (12th) on Thursday.
Another show of force. World number 1 Aryna Sabalenka qualified for the semi-finals of the Australian Open on Tuesday by defeating the young and promising American Iva Jovic (27th) 6-3, 6-0.
“Don’t look at the score, it was very hard!”launched after 1h29 of the match the winner who has still not lost a single set in five rounds this year. “She pushed me to my limits, it was a very hard battle”she assured. The statistics, however, show that she dominated the match with notably 7 aces against 1, 31 winning shots against 12 and no break conceded (5 break points saved and 4 out of 9 converted in her favor).
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For her fourth semi-final in a row in Melbourne, the 27-year-old Belarusian will face the American Coco Gauff (3rd) or the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (12th) on Thursday.
A third title in Melbourne?
Sabalenka is aiming for a third title in Melbourne, which would be her fifth Grand Slam with also two US Opens in 2024 and 2025.
On Tuesday, she made the break at the start of the match to break away 3-0 and each of the players then kept their put in play. Sabalenka did not have to defend a single break point until the last game of the set, on her serve, which lasted more than ten minutes alone. She then had to save three break points to finally pocket the set on her 3rd set point after 59 minutes. The second set was one-sided even if Jovic had two break points at 5-0, his only two of the set. But she was unable to convert any and Sabalenka concluded with an ace on her first match point.
Jovic, 18, leaves her second Australian Open somewhat abruptly but will be able to be satisfied with the progress made since her first participation last year, when she lost in the second round.
