Aryna Sabalenka has reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open as she seeks a third consecutive title

MELBOURNE, Australia — Aryna Sabalenka’s bid for a third straight Australian Open championship will continue after she defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in a surprisingly tough quarterfinal.

Sabalenka, ranked No. 1, has now won 19 consecutive matches at Melbourne Park and will face her good friend, No. 11 seed Paola Badosa, in the semifinals.

Sabalenka extended her set streak to 25, dating back to the 2023 final – when she held the opener against 2021 French Open runner-up Pavlyuchenkova. But Sabalenka had a tough time using her formidable stroke on a windy evening at Rod Laver Arena and collected the last three games after the third set was tied at 3-all.

“Really,” Sabalenka said, “I was just praying.”

He won his first major championship at Melbourne Park in 2023, then added another last January before raising his total to three Grand Slam trophies at the US Open last September.

Martina Hingis was the last woman to win the Australian Open three years in a row from 1997 to 1999.

Badosa’s 7-5, 6-4 win over No. 3 Coco Goff in the first quarterfinal of the day was surprising, sure, but nothing compared to how significant No. 27 Pavlyuchenkova’s win over Sabalenka was.

And it certainly seemed likely to happen for most of the second set and at least the beginning of the third. Instead, Pavlyuchenkova fell to 1-8 in Grand Slam quarterfinals, including 0-4 at the Australian Open.

So how did Pavlyuchenkova pull the win around this time?

Sabalenka handles big serves, first and foremost, reading them well and delivering deep returns. It took a while to find the range, but once Pavlyuchenkova was nearly perfect: Sabalenka, after holding all four of her service games in the first set, lost five of the next six.

Pavlyuchenkova also produced stinging groundstrokes that were on par with her stronger opponents in most contests. And showing some flair with her volleying, she ended up at the net, claiming eight of the first nine points – one that even looked like a mistake of sorts but elicited a wry smile from Pavlyuchenkova.

When things got tight, Sabalenka grew frustrated, his shot-assist grunts and post-point screams growing louder. After falling behind 1-0 in the third set, he hit his racket against the blue court.

Eventually, though, he was able to smile and look forward to trying to get back to the finals with one more win.