Staff Reporter.
Aryna Sabalenka sent an ominous message to her rivals as she demolished Zheng Qinwen to set up a US Open semi-final against Emma Navarro.
World number two Sabalenka claimed a statement 6-1 6-2 victory against Olympic champion and seventh seed Zheng.
That came after American Navarro recovered from a 5-1 second-set deficit to beat Spain’s Paula Badosa 6-2 7-5 in front of a partisan New York crowd.
Belarusian Sabalenka reached the final last year, losing to Coco Gauff, but she looks in superb form to claim another Slam title to go with her two Australian Open triumphs.
She dropped just five games in beating Navarro in the fourth round of the French Open in June, but Navarro won their sole hard-court match at Indian Wells earlier in the year.
Sabalenka jokingly offered to buy the crowd drinks if they supported her during Thursday’s semi-final against Navarro.
“OK guys, drinks on me – and please give me some support in the next match,” she laughed.
“She [Navarro] is a really good player. We had two battles, they were really close.”
Despite world number one Iga Swiatek still being in the draw, Sabalenka is many people’s pick for the title at Flushing Meadows.
Her hard-hitting game and the pacey courts in New York means she can hit her opponents out of the match – something she did with style against Zheng.
In a highly-anticipated rematch of this year’s Australian Open final, Sabalenka was ruthless, hitting 16 winners to Zheng’s nine and saving the one break point she faced.
Her forehand was particularly devasting, drawing a series of errors from the Chinese seventh seed, who also struggled to find her serve.
The victory marks a ninth major semi-final for Sabalenka and a fourth in a row in New York.
The 26-year-old is also the youngest woman to reach four consecutive singles semi-finals at the US Open since Venus Williams in 2002.