Sabalenka cruises past Krejcikova to set up Gauff semi-final tie

Aryna Sabalenka defeated Barbora Krejcikova 6-2, 6-3 in a brutally quick quarter-final on Tuesday, keeping her Australian Open title defence on track and setting up a meeting with U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff.

After the first two quarter-finals on Rod Laver Arena had lasted a combined seven hours, Sabalenka came out firing, as if to get the court schedule back on track before the final match of the day.

The Belarusian blew the former French Open champion off the court at times, extending her winning streak at Melbourne Park to 12 matches as she advanced to the final four after conceding only 16 games.

"I think it was a really great match today. I played really great tennis and I really hope I can just keep playing that way or even better as I always say," she said.

"I've been working so hard the last year and this pre-season. I think it's all about hard work. Give it all in the practice court so you can be ready for the matches as good as you can."

The second seed hammered her serves and groundstrokes over the net, accompanied by her trademark yelps, breaking the ninth-seeded Czech three times to only one hiccup and winning the first set in little more than 30 minutes.

Sabalenka cruised through her first service game of the second set to love with a couple of piledriver forehands and was soon feasting on the Czech's second serve, breaking her opponent again.

The atmosphere on the main showcourt was subdued as the one-sided contest continued, with almost everything Krejcikova tried to do to change the course of the game met with a howitzer of a response from the opposing side.

Krejcikova broke Sabalenka again in the sixth game, becoming only the second player to do so at Melbourne Park this year, and added a hold to cut the deficit to 4-3.

Krejcikova had lost the first set in three of her four matches on her way to the final eight, but there was no coming back against the Belarusian.

Sabalenka held with a couple of massive serves before breaking the Czech to love to set up a semi-final against American Gauff, who denied Sabalenka her second Grand Slam title in the final at Flushing Meadows last September.

With all but one of the seeds in the top half of the draw gone, including world number one Iga Swiatek, Sabalenka's match against Gauff could decide who wins the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy.

SportsLigue