Sabalenka gets past Siegemund, Fritz faces Alcaraz in semis

12 hours ago 2

LONDON (AP):

ARYNA SABALENKA was having a hard time dealing with her Wimbledon quarterfinal opponent’s unusual game style. The mistakes were mounting yesterday. The stress was rising. The deficit was troubling.

As things went awry, Sabalenka would look at her box with a quizzical expression and raise her hands. After missing one forehand off a short ball, she knelt on the grass near the net, the very picture of exasperation. A month after her loss to Coco Gauff in the French Open final, Sabalenka knew she needed to keep her emotions in check and straighten out her strokes.

She did just that, right on time. Sabalenka trailed by a set, then twice was down a break in the third before grabbing the last three games to return to the semi-finals at the All England Club by overcoming 104th-ranked Laura Siegemund 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 at Centre Court.

“She pushed me so much,” said Sabalenka, number one since last October. “After the first set, I was just looking at my box, thinking, ‘Guys, I mean, book the tickets. I think we’re about to leave this beautiful city, country, place’.”

Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam tournament where Sabalenka never has been to a title match. She can change that this week if she beats number 13 Amanda Anisimova of the United States on Thursday. Anisimova reached her first major semi-final since the 2019 French Open, when she was just 17, by getting past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 7-6 (9).

The first men’s semi-final was established yesterday, too: Number-two Carlos Alcaraz, the two-time defending champion, against number-five Taylor Fritz.

Sabalenka won the Australian Open twice and the US Open once and was the runner-up at this year’s Australian Open (losing to Madison Keys) and French Open (losing to Gauff).

The 27-year-old Belarusian lost in the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2021 and 2023.

Sabalenka hadn’t dropped a set during this year’s trip to the grass-court major until yesterday — but she also hadn’t faced an opponent quite like the 37-year-old Siegemund. The German, who eliminated number-six Keys last week, was the oldest and by far the lowest-ranked of any woman in the quarterfinals as well as the one with the fewest career titles (two).

Among the men, Alcaraz was a 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 winner against unseeded Cam Norrie, the last British player in either singles bracket, and 2024 US Open runner-up Fritz recovered from a mid-match lull to reach the semi-finals at the All England Club for the first time with a 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4) victory over Karen Khachanov.

The last two women’s quarterfinals are number-seven Mirra Andreeva vs Belinda Bencic, and number-eight Iga Swiatek vs nmber-19 Liudmila Samsonova. The men’s matchups are number-one Jannik Sinner vs number-10 Ben Shelton and 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic vs number-22 Flavio Cobolli.

Read Entire Article