New York (AFP) – Two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka rallied in the final set to beat Linda Noskova on Tuesday and reach a sixth straight US Open semi-final. Sabalenka triumphed 7-6 (7/1), 3-6, 7-6 (10/7) over the 21-year-old Wimbledon champion, who went toe-to-toe with the world number one on Arthur Ashe Stadium — where men’s defending champion Carlos Alcaraz faced eighth-seeded American Ben Shelton in the last match of the night.
“What a battle,” Sabalenka told the crowd. “I was pushing myself to the limit, especially in the third set. I honestly thought that was it, the match was over, and that’s what helped me to feel loose and go for my shots,” added the Belarusian star, who trailed 4-2 in the third set after coughing up two double faults in the fifth game to surrender a break of serve.
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Sabalenka will face a familiar opponent in the semi-final in Jessica Pegula, a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 winner over fellow American Emma Navarro. Sabalenka beat Pegula in the 2024 US Open final — still the American’s only appearance in a Grand Slam title match — and beat her again last year in the semi-finals.
Sabalenka looked headed for another Grand Slam disappointment in a season in which she has so far been unable to add to her stash of four major titles. Clearly frustrated, she nevertheless regrouped and broke Noskova to love to pull level at 4-4. They hurtled to the 10-point tiebreaker — where Sabalenka dropped the first two points before climbing back and finally sealing victory with a courageous second-serve ace.
Noskova fired 18 aces — 46 winners in all to Sabalenka’s 42 — as she became the first player to take a set off Sabalenka in the tournament. Sabalenka has now won 18 straight matches at Flushing Meadows, and she must keep going to a third straight title if she is to have any chance to retain the world number one ranking she has held since October of 2024. Even the title might not do it. Second-ranked Elena Rybakina can grab the top spot if she beats Zheng Qinwen in their quarter-final on Wednesday.
The victory was Sabalenka’s first win over a top-10 player since she beat Coco Gauff in the Miami final in March. That was her third title of 2026, but Sabalenka has struggled since, exiting early at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
American 11th seed Frances Tiafoe also had to go the distance, rallying from two sets down and erasing a 3-0 deficit in the fifth set to beat 22-year-old compatriot Alex Michelsen 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (10/6). Michelsen, ranked 46th, had reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final without dropping a set. He served for the match at 5-4 in the third.
“He gave me some gifts, a couple of double faults there,” Tiafoe said. “But then I slowly started to get my rhythm there, snuck out third set and slowly started playing better and better.” But he is a hell of a player,” Tiafoe added of Michelsen, who wept in Tiafoe’s arms as they met at the net after four hours and 38 minutes. “He should have easily won today.”
Tiafoe rolled through the fourth set, and when Michelsen responded Tiafoe refused to fold, battling back to force the decider and reach the semi-finals in Flushing Meadows for the third time in five years. He will face either Alcaraz or Shelton. Alcaraz faces his toughest test of the tournament in Shelton, who said he expects the Spaniard to be at full strength despite the fact that the seven-time Grand Slam champion is playing his first tournament in more than four months after recovering from a right wrist injury.
© 2024 AFP
