Aryna Sabalenka cruises past Qinwen Zheng into US Open semis
No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, last year's US Open runner-up, surrendered just three games to Qinwen Zheng on Tuesday night in reaching the semifinals at Flushing Meadows for the fourth year in a row.
The quarterfinal featuring Sabalenka and No. 7 Zheng -- a rematch of the Australian Open final in January won by Sabalenka -- was the first matchup between players ranked in the top 10 on the women's side at this year's US Open.
With Roger Federer in the stands, attending the US Open for the first time since his retirement, Sabalenka displayed a typically powerful performance in a 6-1, 6-2 victory to set up a meeting with Emma Navarro on Thursday.
A year ago, Sabalenka lost to American Coco Gauff in the final at Flushing Meadows as a partisan crowd loudly backed the champion. Now Sabalenka will face another American in Navarro.
So after her victory in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, Sabalenka was asked by ESPN's Pam Shriver what she might do "to try and get a few more people on your side?"
Sabalenka chuckled and told the folks in Arthur Ashe Stadium: "Drinks on me tonight?"
Then, repeating that offer to the thousands of spectators, the 26-year-old from Belarus added: "Please give me some support in the next match."
Sabalenka is trying to become the first woman since Angelique Kerber in 2016 to win the hard-court major titles at the Australian Open and US Open.
The opponents in the other women's semifinal will be decided on Wednesday, when No. 1 Iga Swiatek plays No. 6 Jessica Pegula, and No. 22 Beatriz Haddad Maia takes on unseeded Karolina Muchova.
Sabalenka improved to 9-1 in major quarterfinals, the second-best win percentage among women since the Open era began in 1968 (min. 10 matches). Her nine major semifinal appearances since the start of 2021 lead all women's players over that span.
The three games won by Zheng, the gold medalist at the Paris Olympics last month, were her fewest in a Grand Slam match. She made only 44% of her first serves.
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.