Aryna Sabelenka remains on course for a historic third straight Australian Open title after beating No. 11 seed and close friend Paula Badosa 6-4 6-2 in Thursday’s first semifinal.

After coming as close to defeat in Melbourne as she has for three long years, trailing by a break in the nerve-racking final set of her quarter-final match, Aryna Sabalenka drew on her unshakable mental toughness to find a way through to the semi-finals of the Australian Open with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Aryna Sabalenka will face close friend Paula Badosa in the semi-finals of the Australian Open after battling to a 6-2 2-6 6-3 victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Aryna Sabalenka sets up Australian Open semi-final with good friend Paula Badosa - The two-time defending champion recovered from losing her first set of the tournament.

Badosa reached the last four of a grand slam event for the first time in her career – the first Spanish woman to do so since Garbine Muguruza at Melbourne in 2020. Badosa, who w

Aryna Sabalenka's bid for a third consecutive Australian Open championship will continue after she got past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in a surprisingly difficult quarterfinal Tuesday night.

By Shrivathsa Sridhar MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open with a battling 6-2 2-6 6-3 win over Russian 27th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova,