Aryna Sabalenka overcame heat set to hit 45C and one of the most exciting talents in tennis to power into the semi-finals of the Australian Open, where Carlos Alcaraz bids to join her later Tuesday.<\/p>\n
World number one Sabalenka tamed 18-year-old American Iva Jovic 6-3, 6-0 and faces either third seed Coco Gauff or 12th seed Elina Svitolina for a place in the final.<\/p>\n
Sabalenka, the top seed from Belarus, is aiming to win a third Melbourne crown in four years and looks in ominous form, yet to drop a set.<\/p>\n
“These teenagers have been testing me in the last couple of rounds,” said Sabalenka, 27, who is on a 10-match win streak after victory in Brisbane this month.<\/p>\n
“It was a tough match. Don’t look at the score, it wasn’t easy at all.<\/p>\n
“She played incredible tennis. Pushed me to one step better level. And I’m super happy with the win.”<\/p>\n
The match was played in hot sun on Rod Laver Arena, as temperatures reached 38C.<\/p>\n
Just after the match, organisers closed the roof, meaning the other three quarter-finals will take place in far more comfortable temperatures.<\/p>\n
The decision came after the tournament hit its maximum “heat stress” rating of five for the second time in four days.<\/p>\n
The measure is designed to protect players, fans and officials.<\/p>\n
Play on outdoor courts, which were to host junior boys’ and girls’ matches, were put on hold.<\/p>\n
Temperatures reached 40C on Saturday, with matches on outside courts paused for about five hours.<\/p>\n
Defeat brought an end to a breakthrough tournament for Jovic, the youngest player in the women’s top 100 and seeded 29.<\/p>\n
She stunned seventh seed and two-time Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini and blitzed past experienced Yulia Putintseva for the loss of just one game to announce herself to the world.<\/p>\n
But Sabalenka was a bridge too far.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz faces having to beat not just Alex de Minaur but also a patriotic home crowd to make his first Australian Open semi-final.<\/p>\n
Whoever comes out on top will meet German third seed Alexander Zverev, who lost the final last year to Jannik Sinner, or American next-gen star Learner Tien.<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old Spaniard Alcaraz has won six Grand Slams, but is yet to go past the last eight in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
De Minaur has failed to make it past the quarter-finals at any Slam and is hoping the home fans can help him pull off an upset in the last match of the day on centre court.<\/p>\n
“For me, it just comes down to I’m going to have to bring some of my best tennis,” said the Australian, who has lost all five previous encounters with Alcaraz.<\/p>\n
“Once I rock up on Tuesday and I walk on court, you just deal with whatever’s in front of you,” he added of the prospect of a closed roof.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Aryna Sabalenka overcame heat set to hit 45C and one of the most exciting talents in tennis to power into the semi-finals of the Australian Open, where Carlos Alcaraz bids to join her later Tuesday. World number one Sabalenka tamed 18-year-old American Iva Jovic 6-3, 6-0 and faces either third seed Coco Gauff or 12th …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1751"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1757,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1751\/revisions\/1757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}