Aryna Sabalenka Beats Linda Noskova in US Open Thriller to Reach Semi-Finals

The Belarusian Tennis player Aryna Sabalenka has kept her hopes of winning her third consecutive US Open Grand Slam championship alive after securing a hard-fought win over the Wimbledon Champion Linda Noskova in three sets in the quarterfinals and made her way into the last four.

Having stretched to the third set for the first time in this year’s tournament, the two-time defending champion, Sabalenka trailed 4-2 in the third set and later 2-0 in the tie-breaker before she eventually displayed some brilliant strokeplay and great passes across the court to recover from a difficult situation and closing out a 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 7-6 (10-7) win.

This was the 28-year-old’s 19th consecutive win at the Flushing Meadow; having never been defeated at the tournament since her 2023 defeat in the final at the hands of Coco Gauff. Whilst becoming the first woman since Serena Williams in 2016 to reach six consecutive semi-finals in New York.

Her quarterfinal win also ensured that she clings onto her world number one ranking, although she may lose her top spot and be replaced by Elena Rybakina regardless of whether she beats Zheng Qinwen on Wednesday. When asked if she would be happy to win the US Open Championship but lose her number one ranking, Sabalenka replied, “I will be more than happy. Three-peat sounds great. I am just super happy that I put myself in the position where I have a chance to go for the three-peat, even though I am still far from that.”

Sabalenka will continue her quest to reach her fourth consecutive US Open Final against Jessica Pegula in her semi-final match, after the American registered an impressive win to defeat Navarro 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.