Aryna Sabalenka’s pursuit of a first Wimbledon title remains on course after her demolition of Madison Keys in the quarter-final.
The Belarusian, who was banned from last year’s tournament, is making up for lost time and was too strong for Keys on Court One, winning 6-2 6-4.
With Iga Swiatek being knocked out on Tuesday she will now have her sights on the Venus Rosewater dish after booking a second semi-final appearance in SW19.
Welcome back to the semi-finals, @SabalenkaA 👏
The No.2 seed powerfully gets past Madison Keys in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/tPuQdJzmoc— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 12, 2023
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Her eyes will have lit up when Swiatek was beaten by Elina Svitolina as it means she is now just one win away from ending the Pole’s 66-week reign as world number one.
There is no one left in the tournament who can match her brute force from the back of the court and her big-match experience, having won the Australian Open in January, will stand her in good stead to win two more matches.
She said: “It feels really amazing to be back in the semi-final, I can’t wait to play my second semi-final at Wimbledon and hopefully I can do better than last time.
“It was a really tough game, I was so happy to win the second set, that game at 2-4 0-40 was just incredible.
“Since I was little I was dreaming about the Wimbledon title, it is something special, Wimbledon is different, it’s more special. It doesn’t matter who I am going to play, it is going to be a tough battle.”
When she found herself in trouble at 2-4 and 0-40 down in the second set, she reeled off 12 successive points to put herself back in control.
Keys, who won in Eastbourne in the week before the tournament began, was enjoying her best run here since 2015, but she was on the end of a barrage from Sabalenka and could have regrets about not taking her chances when they came, specifically that game to go 5-2 up in the second.
Sabalenka was on the attack from the start and broke Keys in the opening service game thanks to a sliced winner down the line.
A second break followed as Sabalenka was in total control, until Keys began to find her range and forced break points as her opponent tried to serve the first set out.
Sabalenka saved them to go in front and then put pressure on Keys’ serve earlier on as the American was forced to navigate some difficult deuce games.
She did so and then looked to have turned the tide, breaking at 3-2 with some power hitting of her own before going 40-0 up and within a point of 5-2.
But Sabalenka activated beast mode and won 12 consecutive points on her way to three successive games to put herself back in firm control.
She then served it out to seal a memorable win and move one step closer to her Wimbledon dream.
