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A tactical clash

After an exchange of politeness and breaks, the two women were at 2-2 in the first set and two opposing tactical patterns were emerging. Unsurprisingly, Sabalenka sought to destroy everything in his path and shorten the exchanges as much as possible. Gauff tried to contain her opponent in the center of the court to avoid giving her striking angles, forcing her to always move her legs and annihilating her power.

Gauff betrayed by her service

If Sabalenka, incredibly aggressive from her first strikes, managed to put her game in place, helped by a devastating serve which regularly took Gauff out of the court, it was more complicated for her rival. Especially since Gauff lacked efficiency on serve throughout the match (8 double faults including 5 in his first two service games, 57% of first serves). Deprived of this launching pad, the American has often struggled.

After another break snatched thanks to laser returns, Sabalenka found herself in perfect position and would serve for the match. It was then that she let her emotions overtake her. Suddenly, the Belarusian seemed lost on the court, less destructive. A double fault then gave Gauff a break point. Her return forced Sabalenka to hit a backhand forehand and she saw her ball die in the net. Everything had to be redone.

Gauff too shy, Sabalenka under tension

Gauff had a great opportunity to close the set while leading 6-5, 30-0. But then she was too cautious, too wait-and-see and let her opponent snatch the right to play a tie-break. Once again, Gauff was going to pay dearly for his lack of success in the service. Too neutral in her strikes, not always committed enough, she couldn’t hurt.

At the start of a balanced second set, Sabalenka offered herself the first chances without being able to confirm them. Gauff still couldn’t project herself forward. The three hours of struggle against Kostyuk in the quarter-finals were perhaps weighing on his legs. While she was leading 4-3, 0-30 on Sabalenka’s serve, she was again too timid and let Sabalenka get back to 4-4. Behind, she conceded the break by exploding in the exchange. Gauff was going to save a match point by showing in this point all the aggression and initiative that he had lacked in the match. But on the second, Sabalenka’s serve was a winner.

Daniil Medvedev is only one victory away from playing a third final at the Australian Open after 2021 and 2022. The Russian invited himself into the last four by dominating Hubert Hurkacz in five sets (7-6 [4]2-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4) and 3h59 of play which brings his time spent on court since the first round to 16h15.

As often since the start of the tournament, Gilles Cervara’s student left feathers on the court. A set lost en route in the first round and in the round of 16 against Terence Atmane then Nuno Borges, the first two against Emil Ruusuvuori in the 2nd round and two additional against the Pole ranked 9th in the world, therefore, this Wednesday.

Medvedev had however made the best start, making the entry break in a game where, with his shoulder still rusty, Hurkacz only passed one first ball out of five. By the time the machine got going, Arthur Cazaux’s knockout in the round of 16 was back on track.

In the tie-break that followed, Medvedev used his defensive qualities to force his opponent to make a mistake and win 7 points to 4. “Hubi” nevertheless had impressive serving stats: 67% first serves, 92% points gained behind them. But his 16 unforced errors for 13 winning shots weighed heavily.

A culpable relaxation from the Russian cost him a break at the start of the second round. He saved two 0-3 double break balls, before letting his opponent equalize 6-2.

But everything seemed to be back to normal when the world No. 3 took the advantage after winning the third set and the opponent’s service from the start of the fourth. After receiving a warning for an extremely rare gesture of irritation, at 3-1 in favor of the Russian, the very placid Hurkacz immediately achieved a full aces shutout.

Nothing like it to get him back in the saddle and go for the break at 4-3, by achieving two winning climbs to the net at 30A on the opposing serve. It didn’t take much to derail an increasingly exasperated Medvedev who lost the set (7-5) on a trivial forehand mistake.

We then thought that Medvedev would increase his negative ratio of matches in five sets (5 wins for 10 losses before this one). But at 3-3 in the decisive round, he unleashed an impeccable return game, symbolized by this first service from Hurkacz to the body, swung at 224 km/h, at 15-40 but returned by the Russian who took the trades on his own to get the break at the net.

The next play turned the end of the match into madness. Serving at 4-3, Medvedev saved a break point on a hussar serve-volley. Hurkacz resisted at the end of a sumptuous exchange concluded at the net and with the help of it.

But the Russian had the last word and then served at 5-4: after saving a first match point at 40-15 after an exchange of 21 racket strokes, Hurkacz gave up, trapped by a cushioned shot from Medvedev delicately placed behind the net.

The world number 2 had only lost eleven games (and no sets) to reach the quarter-finals. Tuesday, against the Czech Barbora Krejcikova, 11th in the world and by far her toughest opponent on paper since the start of the tournament, the defending champion never trembled (6-2, 6-3).

Too powerful

She immediately imposed her clearly superior power on serve and rally, to quickly take the lead (4-1, double break). In great difficulty behind her second balls (only 20% of points won), Krejcikova tried to take the Belarusian out of her comfort zone by offering her cottony, sliced, low or, on the contrary, very rounded balls. But Sabalenka, who has made significant progress in the short game, had the answer to everything.

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Aryna Sabalenka lost just 16 games (and no sets) to reach the Australian Open semifinals

Krejcikova then tried a few drop shots, often poorly hit, or to follow her rare accelerations at the net. Except that surprisingly, since she is an excellent doubles player, the Czech showed a lot of clumsiness on the fly. Result, in less than an hour, the score was 6-2, 4-1, double break in favor of Sabalenka who, despite a break, concluded a few minutes later with a blank break.