NEW YORK — Aryna Sabalenka cruised into her fourth consecutive US Open semifinal while Americans Taylor Fritz and Emma Navarro delighted the home crowd by making the final four for the first time at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Second seed Sabalenka needed only an hour and 13 minutes to dismantle China’s Zheng Qinwen 6-1, 6-2, fending off the only break point she faced in the match to set up a meeting with Navarro.
The Belarusian has lost only four service games through the tournament and is determined to add another major title to her two Australian Open trophies after losing in the Flushing Meadows final a year ago.
In the day session’s opening match, 13th seed Navarro continued her meteoric rise to the top tier of tennis with a 6-2 7-5 win over Spain’s Paula Badosa in a battle of New York-born baseliners.
One of two US women left in the tournament, Navarro snatched an early break to go 3-0 up in the first set, then turned aside two break points to take it in convincing fashion.
Navarro, who beat defending champion Coco Gauff in the previous round, stunned a suddenly error-prone Badosa by winning 24 of the last 28 points of the match to wrap up victory in 72 minutes.
Fritz, the men’s 12th seed, denied world number four Alexander Zverev another shot at a first major with a 7-6(2) 3-6 6-4 7-6(3) triumph just two months after dispatching the German in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
“I’ve had a lot of looks at quarter-finals over the past couple of years and today just felt different,” Fritz said. “I really felt like it was my time to take it a step further.
Fritz claimed a tight first set in a tiebreak after the two towering players wowed fans with a mixture of powerful baseline blasts and drop shots and winners at the net.
Zverev bounced back to level the match in the second, energized by one of the shots of the tournament, a curling return from out wide that sailed over the net post and landed on both lines.
But world number 12 Fritz seized back momentum in the third set and closed out the match in a fourth-set tiebreak. — Reuters
