Tennis

Aryna Sabalenka ‘finds way out’ with final-set escape against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Paula Badosa ended Coco Gauff’s 13-match winning run to reach her first grand slam semi-final

Aryna Sabalenka celebrates her win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarter-final of the Australian Open in Melbourne Park. Photograph: Hannah Peters/Getty Images
Aryna Sabalenka celebrates her win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarter-final of the Australian Open in Melbourne Park. Photograph: Hannah Peters/Getty Images
Tumaini Carayol
Tue Jan 21 2025 - 10:40

After coming as close to defeat in Melbourne as she has for three long years, trailing by a break in the nerve-racking final set of her quarter-final match, Aryna Sabalenka drew on her unshakable mental toughness to find a way through to the semi-finals of the Australian Open with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

With an important victory, Sabalenka, the No 1 seed and two-time defending champion, has extended her winning streak at the Australian Open to 20 matches and she has now won 29 of her last 30 matches in Australia. Sabalenka, who is also 10-0 in 2025, had also won 25 consecutive sets in Melbourne until Tuesday night.

Over the past few years, Sabalenka’s consistency at the grand slam tournaments has been second to none. She has now reached the semi-finals in eight of her last nine major tournaments played, her only earlier loss coming in the quarter-finals of the French Open last year when she was suffering from an illness.

“I’m really glad that at some point I was able to put myself back together, and I was able to just get back to the match,” said Sabalenka. “I was able to keep fighting, keep trying, and I was able to turn around this match. It was a really difficult one.”

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She now continues her attempt to become the first player in 26 years to win three consecutive Australian Open titles (Martina Hingis completed her three-peat in 1999) and will face Paula Badosa, her close friend, in the semi-final after the 11th seed upset Coco Gauff, the third seed, 7-5, 6-4.

Spain's Paula Badosa (left) greets USA's Coco Gauff after her victory in their quarter-final. Photograph: William West/AFP via Getty Images
Spain's Paula Badosa (left) greets USA's Coco Gauff after her victory in their quarter-final. Photograph: William West/AFP via Getty Images

Sabalenka looked imperious early on despite the windy conditions as she marched to an easy 6-2 lead with an exhibition of destructive attacking tennis. Pavlyuchenkova, a finalist at the 2021 French Open and an extremely talented shotmaker who has spent most of her career in and around the top 100, eventually settled down. She began to strike the ball beautifully, deflecting the pace provided by Sabalenka by taking the ball early and rushing the Belarusian in the process.

After breaking serve for 2-1 in the third set, however, Pavlyuchenkova’s nerves finally caught up with her. She played a tense, error-strewn service game, losing her serve to love. After drawing level, Sabalenka did not allow her opponent another opportunity as she recovered to close out her win in three sets.

“It’s not about being scared,” said Sabalenka. “It’s about finding the way out. I was struggling not in the beginning, actually. In the second set I was struggling with finding the way, but then I found one way. Yeah, I’m happy that I was able to do that.”