‘Drinks on me’ says Aryna Sabalenka, back in the US Open semifinals for fourth year in a row

By Jill Martin, CNN

(CNN) — Aryna Sabalenka is heading back to the US Open semifinals for the fourth consecutive year, with a dominant 6-1, 6-2 win against China’s Zheng Qinwen in the quarterfinals at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday night.

Sabalenka, the favorite to win the title in New York, has now reached the semifinals in seven of the last eight majors she has played in. This is her 10th consecutive match win.

But don’t expect the New York crowd to be on the world No. 2’s side for her next match. In the semifinals Thursday, Sabalenka will face American and No. 13 seed Emma Navarro, who earlier Tuesday defeated No. 26 seed Paula Badosa 6-2, 7-5 to advance to her first major semifinal.

Just a year ago at Arthur Ashe Stadium, the Belarusian experienced what it was like having a New York crowd passionately rooting for an American – and not for her – in a match with high stakes when she lost to Coco Gauff in the final.

A question was posed by ESPN’s Pam Shriver on the court to Sabalenka: “What are you going to do tonight to try and get a few more people on your side going into the semis?”

“I mean, drinks on me tonight?” said Sabalenka with a laugh. The crowd gave an approving cheer.

“OK guys, drink on me, and please give me some support in the next match,” Sabalenka said.

Sabalenka and Navarro are 1-1 in their career head-to-head matchups – with Navarro beating Sabalenka at Indian Wells in March and Sabalenka besting Navarro at the French Open in June. Both of those matches came in the round of 16.

Against the No. 7 seed Zheng on Tuesday, Sabalenka’s power was on display, and she was in total control throughout the match, winning in one hour, 13 minutes in front of a crowd that included Roger Federer. Sabalenka improves to 3-0 in all-time matches against the Chinese star.

Sabalenka is seeking to sweep the hard court grand slam events in 2024, having won the Australian Open for the second consecutive year back in January – which came against Zheng in straight sets.

This is the second consecutive year Sabalenka and Zheng – the Paris Olympics women’s singles gold medalist – have met in the US Open quarterfinals.

Zheng was coming off the latest finish in a women’s match in US Open history, with her three-set win against Donna Vekic, the silver medalist in Paris, ending at 2:15 a.m. ET Monday.

Zheng told reporters she estimated she did not get to sleep until close to 5 a.m. and didn’t practice Monday.

“Yesterday I was feeling terrible,” Zheng said. “I couldn’t wake up. Even I want to play tennis, but I don’t feel I could do it. … I mean, yeah, if I hit some balls yesterday maybe would help for the match, but it’s fine.”

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