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| Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka |
Wimbledon: Sabalenka turns the tables on Siegemund to reach the semi-finals
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus overcame veteran German Laura Siegemund to reach the semifinals for the third time in her professional career at Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam tournament, defeating her 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday in the quarterfinals, which took two hours and 54 minutes.
Sabalenka repeated her best results at Wimbledon, the only Grand Slam tournament in which she has never reached the final, having reached the semifinals in 2021 and 2023. She continues her successful journey this year towards her third consecutive Grand Slam final, having lost the Australian Open final to American Madison Keys and the Roland Garros final to her compatriot Coco Gauff last month. She is aiming to reach her fourth consecutive final after winning the Flushing Meadows title last fall.
This is also the fifth consecutive time the Belarusian has reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament.
This is Sabalenka's third victory over the 37-year-old, 118-day-old veteran, ranked 104th in the world, following her first victory in the first round of the 2019 Fed Cup and the round of 16 at the Strasbourg Open in the same year.
Sabalenka will face either 12th-seeded American Amanda Anisimova or 50th-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the semifinals.
The match got off to a perfect start for Siegemund, who had never advanced past the second round at Wimbledon. She broke Sabalenka's serve in the first and third games, leading 3-0, before Sabalenka returned the favor in the fourth, closing the gap to 3-1 and then 3-2.
The German broke the Belarusian's serve for the third time in the seventh game, leading 5-2. However, she dropped her serve in the eighth, cutting the lead to 3-5, and she held on to secure the set, 6-4, in 57 minutes.
Sabalenka regained her footing at the start of the second set by breaking Siegemund's serve in the second game and leading 2-0. However, the German responded immediately in the third game, reducing the lead to 1-2 and then leveling the match at 2-2. However, the Belarusian rallied, winning four consecutive games, breaking the German's serve in the sixth and eighth games, and clinching the victory 6-2 in 53 minutes.
Sabalenka extended her winning streak to five when she opened the decisive third set on serve, but she quickly dropped her serve in the third game, giving the German a 2-1 and 3-1 lead.
The Belarusian did not hesitate to return the favor, doing so in the sixth game, leveling the match at 3-3. She had a chance to go ahead 4-3, but failed, breaking her serve and handing the German a 4-3 lead.
Sabalenka had two opportunities to return the favor in the eighth game. She squandered the first and succeeded in the second, leveling the match at 4-4 and then leading 5-4. She had two match points in the tenth game (40-15), but squandered the first and succeeded in the second with a volley, after climbing to the net, to win 6-4 in 62 minutes.
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