No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus advanced to the Wimbledon semifinals with a dominant 6-2, 6-4 victory over Madison Keys on Wednesday in London.
Sabalenka was not allowed to play in the tournament last year due to the invasion of Ukraine, which prompted the All England Club to bar players from Russia and Belarus.
She’s been a terror in majors this year, winning the Australian Open in January and advancing to the semifinals of the French Open to accumulate a 17-1 overall record in the three 2023 Grand Slam events to date.
An appearance in the women’s final would vault Sabalenka to No. 1 in the world for the first time, dethroning Iga Swiatek of Poland.
“It really feels amazing to be back in the semifinals. I can’t wait to play in my second semifinal at Wimbledon,” said Sabalenka, who lost a three-setter in the 2021 semis to Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic.
The capacity crowd boisterously supported Keys, who led the second set 4-2 before a furious rally.
“Thank you for the support — even though you supported her more — I still really enjoyed playing in front of you guys,” Sabalenka said.
Her opponent in the semifinals will be sixth-seeded Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, who rallied for a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1 win against defending champion and No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in a rematch of last year’s final.
A set down and locked at 4-4 in the second set, Jabeur won eight of the next nine games to flip the script.
Jabeur saved seven of nine break points, won nine of 11 points at the net and compiled a 35-21 edge in winners in a match that lasted nearly two hours.
Sabalenka leads 3-1 in the head-to-head series with Jabeur, including a straight-sets win in the 2021 Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina and Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, both unseeded, will meet in the other semifinal on Thursday.
–Field Level Media