Aryna Sabalenka cruised past Barbora Krejcikova 6-1 6-4 to reach her first US Open semifinals. The exit of the reining Roland Garros champion means that we are guaranteed a first-time Grand Slam champion at Flushing Meadows this year.
The sole game Krejcikova won in the first set was a break, but it was quickly neutralized by the second-seeded Sabalenka. In the second set the Belarusian didn’t even face a break point, although the score was less lopsided.
Sabalenka has been among top performers on the WTA Tour, but only at this year’s Wimbledon, where she reached the final four, did her game start to take her to later stages at majors.
With 43 victories, Sabalenka is now a WTA match-win leader in 2021, followed by Barbora Krejcikova and Ashleigh Barty who have won 42 tour-level matches this season.
The 23-year-old Sabalenka will next face young Canadian Leylah Fernandez, the world No.73 who upset three big names en route to the semifinals — Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber and Elina Svitolina.
Good on Aryna for a strong performance in defeating Barbora. Also good on her for wearing the red and blue kit, a change from the gold Nike kit she wore in earlier rounds. Love it when the ladies change it up in the ongoing tournament and not wear the same outfit every match.
Jim, not every collection offers this many styles in a collection, so yeah, it’s really good and players are using the opportunity.