Aryna Sabalenka cruised into her fourth consecutive US Open semi-final while the US’ Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe set up a blockbuster all-American showdown in the final four to delight fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York on Tuesday.
Second seed Sabalenka needed only an hour and 13 minutes to dismantle China’s Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen 6-1, 6-2 and set up a meeting with the US’ Emma Navarro, before jokingly promising fans free drinks for their support in that match.
The Belarusian has lost only four service games through the tournament to emerge as the firm favorite to add another major title to her two Australian Open trophies after losing the Flushing Meadows final to the US’ Coco Gauff a year ago.
Photo: AFP
“If you get to the top-five level, everyone will take you as a favorite,” Sabalenka said. “But as I always say, it’s not about being the favorite, it’s about how hard you’re ready to fight for it. It’s going to be [about] the tough moments in the matches when you don’t feel your best and you have to go through it.”
“But I’m really glad they take me as a favorite and I’ll do my very best to hold this beautiful trophy,” she added.
Fritz, the 12th seed, denied world No. 4 Alexander Zverev another shot at a first major title with a 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory two months after dispatching the German in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
Photo: AFP
“I’ve had a lot of looks at quarter-finals over the past couple of years and today just felt different,” Fritz said. “I really felt like it was my time to take it a step further.”
Tiafoe reached the semi-finals in 2022 and booked a place in another after Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov retired due to a leg injury while down 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 4-1.
“It’s not the way I want to get through. But I’m happy to be through. Another semi-final here. Incredible,” 20th seed Tiafoe said.
Photo: CNA
Tiafoe and Fritz are bidding to end US fans’ 21-year wait for a homegrown men’s champion at a Grand Slam after Andy Roddick’s triumph in New York in 2003.
It will be the first all-American men’s major semi-final since Andre Agassi beat Robby Ginepri at the 2005 US Open.
In the day session opener, 13th seed Navarro continued her meteoric rise to the top tier of tennis with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Spain’s Paula Badosa in a battle of New York-born baseliners.
Navarro’s compatriot Jessica Pegula is to face top seed Iga Swiatek in their quarter-final early this morning Taipei time.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese Chan Hao-ching and her Russian teammate, Veronika Kudermetova, advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles on Tuesday by defeating the top seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand.
In a thrilling three-set match, they emerged victorious 2- 1, marking Chan’s first career appearance in a women’s doubles semi-final.
The Taiwanese-Russian duo struggled early, losing their service games consecutively. Despite breaking back in the fourth game, they lost the first set 4-6.
In the second set, they came back from a 1-3 score deficit, breaking Dabrowski and Routliffe’s serves to level the score and win the set 7-5, equalizing the match.
In the deciding set, Chan and Kudermetova overcame an early deficit, breaking their opponents’ serve multiple times in the latter part of the set to win 6-3.
The grueling match lasted 2 hours and 23 minutes.
The duo was to face Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in the semi-finals yesterday after press time.
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