Five-time US Open champion Roger Federer was back in town, watching from the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium as No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka comfortably advanced to her fourth consecutive US Open semifinal and remains in the hunt for her first title in New York.

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In a rematch of this year’s Australian Open final, Sabalenka defeated No. 7 seed Zheng Qinwen, the 2024 Paris Games Olympic champion, 6-1, 6-2. Sabalenka now has an incredible 9-1 win record in Grand Slam quarterfinals throughout her career.

Half strand: Sabalenka is the first woman to reach the semifinals of the US Open four times in a row since Serena Williams did it six times in a row between 2011 and 2016. Two days ago, Sabalenka became the first woman since Serena’s winning streak to reach the quarterfinals of the US Open four times in a row.

World number two Sabalenka is now just one win away from her second consecutive US Open final after finishing runner-up to Coco Gauff last year. On Thursday she will face first-time major semifinalist Emma Navarro, seeded 13th, having split their previous two meetings.

Repetition: Sabalenka, who beat Zheng in January to win her second consecutive Australian Open title, needed just 73 minutes to defeat the Chinese Olympic champion again. Sabalenka also defeated Zheng in the same round of the US Open last year.

Sabalenka dropped just five games to Zheng in the Australian Open final and was even more dominant on Tuesday night, with her result reminiscent of 20-time Grand Slam champion Federer’s most stunning victories.

Former world number one Sabalenka faced a break point in her second service game of the match, but after fending off that chance and holding her serve, she never faced another break point in the top 10 showdown.

Zheng actually had a slightly better win rate on her first serve, 74 percent to 73 percent. But when it came to second serve points, Sabalenka was way ahead, winning 53 percent of those points to Zheng’s 33 percent.

In addition, Sabalenka’s power game also had a great impact on the return. The No. 2 seed won almost half of the points she returned on Zheng’s serve (21 out of 43), resulting in a break point conversion rate of 4 out of 8.

More to follow …