MELBOURNE, Australia — High seed Aryna Sabalenka defeated 18-year-old American Iva Jovic 6-3, 6-0 on Tuesday on the heat-affected Australian Open to advance to the semifinals.
The sport at Rod Laver started with the roof open as Melbourne was underneath a warmth warning with temperatures anticipated to exceed 104 levels Fahrenheit (40 levels Celsius). The roof remained open for this match, however was closed for the next males’s quarterfinal match between Alexander Zverev and American Lerner Tien.
Sabalenka, searching for her third Australian Open title in 4 years, established her dominance from the beginning, taking a 3-0 lead within the first set towards Twenty ninth-seeded Jovic. Nevertheless, Jovic stayed within the set and had three break level probabilities within the 10-minute ninth sport.
Sabalenka took a 5-0 lead with two breaks within the second set, stealing momentum from the younger American. Jovic struggled within the closing levels, double-faulting on break level and giving Sabalenka a 5-0 lead.
Within the remaining sport, Sabalenka clinched the victory with an ace on break level and one other ace on match level. She saved all 5 break factors she confronted and made seven aces.
Sabalenka defeated 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko to advance to a match towards one other teenager.
“These youngsters have examined me in the previous couple of rounds. They’re nice gamers,” Sabalenka stated of Jovic in an on-court interview.
“It was a tricky match,” Sabalenka added. “Do not have a look at the rating. It was by no means straightforward. She performed nice tennis and pushed me to a different degree. It was a battle.”
Sabalenka gained in 2023 and 2024 and was second to Madison Keys a yr in the past. Keys was eradicated from the match on Monday with a loss to fellow American Jessica Pegula.
Jovic was born in California and is the daughter of oldsters who immigrated to the US. With a Serbian father and Croatian mom, Jovic takes cues from Serbian star Novak Djokovic.
Sabalenka awaits the winner of Tuesday evening’s quarterfinals between third-seeded Coco Gauff and Elina Svitolina.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
