World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka survived a scare towards Russian veteran Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova within the 2025 Australian Open quarterfinal on Tuesday.
After dropping the second set in a rush, the Belarusian misplaced one other service recreation — her fifth in a row — to fall to 1-2 in the deciding set. Simply as she appeared on the verge of an upset, Sabalenka flipped the change and started firing her signature backhand winners, successful again a break and serving with extra poise. She received one other break of serve within the eighth recreation when Pavlyuchenkova dedicated a double fault and made three unforced errors inside 4 factors.
Sabalenka then held her serve to clinch a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win to arrange a semifinal conflict towards Paula Badosa. She is now two wins away from changing into the primary girl since Martina Hingis (1997-99) to three-peat on the Australian Open.
She is now 19-0 on the slam, courting again to her dominant efficiency in 2023 when she dropped just one set en path to her first main. Final yr, she coasted to her second title with out dropping a set, together with a dominant 6-3, 6-2 win within the remaining towards Qinwen Zheng.
